Harry Potter And The Throne Of Bel
by Fenris1872
Summary: Discontinued From My Other Profile
1. Chapter 1

"Fancy seeing you here Professor McGonagall," Albus Dumbledore called out as he looked towards a small black cat that sat on the wall overlooking number 4 Privet Drive.

Of course the cat didn't stay a cat for long, there was no way she would when he was literally talking to her in the middle of a perfectly normal street halfway through the night.

Then again, as a wizard it really didn't matter that much to him that he was not welcome in this part of the city, he simply went wherever he wanted under notice-me-not charms… not that it would do much good given how many people had been celebrating what had happened not that long ago.

"How did you know it was me?" Minerva McGonagall was one of the strictest and most focused witches he had ever seen… not that it was a bad thing, it simply made her quite the disciplinarian at Hogwarts.

"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly," he made the statement in a joking manner however the response he got in return was not what he was expecting.

"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," he almost blinked at that, he had not expected her to do such a thing, especially not at this point in time.

"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here," it wasn't a lie either, pretty much every wizard in Britain was celebrating the events that had occurred just a short day ago.

"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she definitely sounded unhappy, "you'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no... even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news, I heard it, flocks of owls… shooting stars…. Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent… I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle, he never had much sense."

Her tirade eventually ended and he honestly understood exactly what she was saying and where she was coming from… too many people were close to breaking the statute of secrecy as it was… however…

"You can't blame them," he said as gently as he could, hoping to calm the younger woman down a little, "we've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."

"I know that," she still sounded irritated, "but that's no reason to lose our heads. People are downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours."

It was clear from the way she was looking at him that she was waiting for him to say something, however he decided instead to keep quiet.

"A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really _has_ gone, Dumbledore?" she sounded almost desperate and he understood why.

"It certainly seems so," he admitted, though he also left his dark suspicions to himself, "we have much to be thankful for… would you care for a Sherbet Lemon?"

"A what?" she sounded confused and he internally smiled at the fact his ploy of diverting her attention had worked so easily.

"A Sherbet Lemon. They're a kind of muggle sweet I'm rather fond of," he admitted, honestly he simply loved sweets in general, though the lemon ones were always his favourites.

"No thank you," her voice was cold, then again, she was always all business, sometimes he wished she would learn how to relax a little, "as I say, even if You-Know-Who _has_ gone-"

She didn't get to finish as he interrupted.

"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name?" he was honestly irritated by every ones fear of using the man's name, it wasn't like the name was tabooed… honestly doing that would be pointless in the end, as everyone that wasn't a Death Eater was an enemy of the very person they were afraid of saying the name of, "all this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense, for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name, 'Voldemort'," he chose to ignore her flinch at his mention of the name as he unstuck a couple of Sherbet Lemons from their wrappers, "it all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who', I have never seen the reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."

"I know you haven't but you're different," oh here it comes… "everyone knows you're the only one You-Know-oh all right, _Voldemort_ , was frightened of."

"You flatter me," he admitted, "Voldemort had powers I will never have," or want for that matter.

"Only because you're too.. well, noble to use them," once again she spoke of him with such high praises and he found himself growing slight exasperated, though he wouldn't show it.

"It's lucky it's dark, I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs," he was certainly joking but then again, it was one way of stopping her from continuing to praise him meaninglessly.

"The owls are nothing to the rumours that are flying around," he knew where this was going, "you know what everyone's saying? About why he disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"

Of course he knew, he had been studying everything he could since the incident after all. However he wasn't going to say anything yet.

"What they're _saying_ ," she proceeded to try and press further, "is that last night, Voldemort turned up at Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters… the rumour is that Lily and James are… are… that they're _dead_."

He bowed his head, knowing just how heartbroken it would make her to know that two of her favourite students of all time were no longer among the living.

"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… oh Albus…" he proceeded to pat her on the shoulder, unfortunately they had been in the middle of a war and casualties were to be expected, it was just such a shame that such wonderful people had to perish so early.

"I know, I know," it was times like this that he truly felt his age.

Her voice trembled but her words carried through anyway, "that's not all, they're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, but… he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke… and that's why he's gone."

He nodded, knowing that even he wasn't completely sure what happened.

"It's… it's _true_?" she faltered at the revelation, then again, he couldn't blame her, "after all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"

"We can only guess, we may never know," it was true as well, while he had a couple of guesses, it didn't change the fact that he had a working theory that was supported by the evidence.

Eventually though, he pulled out his favourite watch, sure it needed an in depth knowledge of astronomy to understand but he had plenty of that.

"Hagrid's late," he muttered upon noting the time, "I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"

He wasn't surprised, Hagrid had never been good at keeping his mouth closed.

"Yes," she admitted, simply confirming his beliefs, "and I don't suppose you're going to tell me _why_ you're here of all places?"

"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle," he stated easily.

"You don't mean… you _can't_ mean the people who live _here_?" she sounded outraged at his claim, "Dumbledore, you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son… I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter, come and live here!"

He felt his mind conflict. He knew that Harry needed to be kept out of the spot light, but also that he needed to stay under blood wards if he wanted the boy to be truly safe.

Which meant there was another option… however that option would have its own issue.

"There is one other option," he admitted, causing her to turn on him quickly.

"Then use that one! Don't leave him with those people!" she sounded rather passionate about that situation but then again, he understood her concern.

"The problem is that if we choose this other option… he may never come to Hogwarts," that seemed to freeze his deputy in her tracks, "in order to keep him safe from Voldemort's supporters, he needs to be kept under blood wards but there are only two adults that share his blood now."

"Then choose the other option!" she demanded and he knew he wouldn't have any more choice here.

In some respects he was both relieved that Minerva had been so stubborn about this, it meant she wasn't blindly following him just because of his reputation… however he needed Harry to study at Hogwarts so he could teach him everything he needed to defeat Voldemort when he inevitably returned.

But in the end, he would just have to be careful to explain enough of the situation for the other option to comply with his plans.

He just hoped she wasn't going to be too difficult.

XXX XXX XXX

Minegishi Rose had to admit that finding a baby on her doorstep was not one of the things she had ever expected to deal with… honestly it seemed like something out of a fantasy novel… which made her mind instantly jump to a single conclusion.

Those people that had taken her little sister had something to do with it.

It had been a while since she had last needed to speak or read English but she was more than capable of remembering her native tongue as she read the letter that explained everything to her.

By the end of it she found herself shedding tears at the knowledge she had been greeted by.

Her little sister was dead.

Lily was dead.

She found herself cursing these so called Wizards for dragging her into their war but in the end, what mattered right now was the fact that she was being lumbered with a fifteen month old child.

Honestly, she didn't mind, the kid was her little half-sister's son so he was family… plus he would be mostly out of the whole crying all night phase by now so that would mean her job wouldn't be interrupted by having to raise the kid.

"Rose-chan? What's wrong? What's going on?" her husband asked upon finally arriving at the table for breakfast and finding her with tears in her eyes and a baby at the table… but despite that she was still amused by how he still couldn't pronounce her name right.

"I just found out my youngest sister and her husband died a couple of days ago," she admitted, "this child is Harry, her son."

"Hari?" he sounded confused and she wondered if he was going to end up pronouncing the child's name incorrectly for the rest of his life as well… sure it was only a minor fault but it was still there to someone who was used to both languages, "who brought him here?"

Her expression must have soured given what she was going to be saying, she could tell by the look on her husband's face.

"A wizard," she spat out the word. Being Lily's big sister and one of her role models had meant that she hadn't suffered from the same divide that occurred between Lily and Petunia… however she was not happy at the fact the wizarding world and basically abducted Lily for most of her life and prevented her from interacting with… what was that word they used again? … oh yeah, _muggles_.

To top it off, she had now found out that her little sister had _died_ because of these people's damned war and they didn't even have the decency of meeting her face to face to tell her the news, instead relaying it through a letter that could be summed up as 'your sister is dead, look after her son'.

Sometimes she just wanted these people to be discovered and shot for all the trouble they caused the average person.

"I see," her husband, Minegishi Takerou, responded calmly. Since he was married to someone that was related to a witch he was fully aware of the existence of magic despite being uninvolved in it just like her, "what do you plan on doing?"

"I'm going to see about getting time off to travel back to Britain for the funeral… after that, all I can really do is keep Harry safe," she admitted to the man she had ended up marrying.

And she did plan on keeping the toddler safe… because when the time came for him to go to a magic school, she would reject it, she would not allow him to get himself involved in the affairs of the very community that had caused her little sister's death.

"We'll need to tell Naoya," Takerou stated simply as he prepared some toast for the morning.

"I know," she wasn't looking forward to that, the young boy had only met Lily once but she had been one of the few people capable of having a conversation on the boy's level... honestly that boy was sometimes too smart for his own good.

But in the end, they had a child to take care of and Naoya would need to grow used to having his cousin live with them, because she sure as hell wasn't going to let the wizards have the boy back.

XXX XXX XXX

Rose couldn't stop the tears from falling at the funeral procession, she hadn't thought she would be attending her little sisters funeral… well, at least not for another several decades at least.

She was just happy that Naoya had accepted the young Harry as easily as he did.

In the end she was given the time off work to return to Britain and attend the funeral, though given how she didn't want Harry to step one foot on the same country as the people that had taken his mother from him, she chose to come alone, leaving Naoya and Takerou behind to make sure the boy was looked after properly.

However that didn't change the sense of hate she was currently feeling, a hate that manifested despite her grief due to the absence of her other sister and the stupid number of people wearing robes and carrying sticks that were attending the funeral.

Of course she knew that Lily and her husband lived in that world, but seeing them there was not what she wanted, not when it was their private war that got her sister killed.

In the end though, she held her tongue, she didn't let her anger boil over and she wasn't going to do something stupid like lash out at them… she knew they wouldn't consider what she said worth listening to, they were all bigots from what she had managed to hear from her sister before her death, even those who accepted non-magical people as people still thought of them as being stupid and inconsequential, with their reasoning for the secrecy surrounding their existence being that if 'muggles' ever found out about magic, they would look for a magical solution for everything.

She hated that view… it was that very view that had started the 'war' that had she only knew of now that one of her sisters was dead because of it.

Why couldn't they have informed the government and had military operations to deal with the terrorists that had caused so much trouble? Because they didn't think they were worth anything.

"Hello Rose," a voice cut in as the procession ended and she found herself having to stop herself from lashing out at the very person she knew had inspired her sister to take up arms against the magical terrorist, "I am sorry about what happened to your sister… she was an incredible person."

She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from pointing out that it was his fault she was dead in the first place.

"I know it is a lot to ask, however I do hope you can take care of Harry until it is time for him to come back to our world," she couldn't stop herself from snarling at that claim.

"Why?!" it wasn't normal for her to snap like that, however in her grief and anger it was only natural, "so you can lead him to his death too?!"

The shock that appeared on the old man's face was clear as the procession ground to a halt at her raised voice.

"Wh-what? Rose, please be reasonable," the old man asked but she found herself snarling at him as he tried to calm her down.

"Be reasonable?! Is it reasonable that you people keep normal people ignorant of your bloody wars?!" she probably would've felt bad about shouting at an old man like that, however she knew that this wasn't just some old man, but basically the modern Merlin so that discomfort did not manifest, "is it reasonable that my sister died because you people took her as a child?!"

She could see that he was shocked but she decided it was time to tell him the simple truth.

"I will _not_ let Harry follow you to his death," she stated venomously, "I will _not_ let him get involved with you people... do you understand Albus Dumbledore?!"

He seemed to get over his shock after a couple of seconds before a disappointed expression adorned his face.

"I'm sorry Rose, but he has a role to fulfil here, so he will have to return," the old man claimed and she found her anger rising again as she grabbed the front of his robes and pulled him towards her.

"I… Don't… Care… he is my family and I will not let you take him, end of story!" and with that she pushed, knocking the old man back several steps, though he managed to regain his balance.

She ignored him and instead walked away from the gathering… she needed time alone to calm down… Takerou could have helped if he was there but she knew it was her choice to keep him in Nippon and looking after Harry despite knowing that this was a distinct possibility.

She just needed to calm down before her flight tomorrow, then everything would be better.

XXX XXX XXX

Naoya couldn't stop himself from smiling down at the one year old boy that his parents had introduced him to as his cousin Harry.

The kid was just over a year old, making him about seven years younger than him… honestly it was a dream come true for him, he had always wanted to get his little brother back after all.

"Dad, is he really going to be my brother?" he asked, knowing that the boy was what he had been searching for for so long and he wouldn't let anything come between them again.

"Yes, I'm just dealing with the paperwork now," he found himself smiling at that claim, everything was working out smoothly without him having to do anything, "when your mother gets home we will officially adopt him under our family name."

He felt his expression soften as he thought of that..

His little brother.

Minegishi Hari.

He would learn his _real_ name soon enough, but for now, simply having the same last name would make the revelations easier for the younger boy to digest.

XXX XXX XXX

Minegishi Hari found himself shooting up right as that dream came to an end.

He knew it wasn't really a dream, the scream of a woman and a flash of green light… he knew those were the memories that plagued him from when he was one year old and saw his mother get murdered before his eyes.

It wasn't strange for this to happen, though at the same time it was also something that happened too often, just a couple of times a month now.

He also knew from experience that waking up like that would mean he wouldn't be capable of getting back to sleep anytime soon.

05:24

He released a sigh of exasperation as he noted the time, he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep before his usual time so he decided to just shake his head and make his way out of his bedroom and get some breakfast.

He was nearly silent as he snuck into the kitchen and pulled out a bowl of cereal and a glass for some orange juice, his aunt and uncle were more than happy to leave the things needed for such a breakfast within his reach… they knew that if he woke up from the memories he wouldn't be capable of getting back to sleep and they were more than sympathetic to his situation.

Time passed slowly as he ate his breakfast, knowing that his parents would probably wake up in about thirty minutes to half an hour for work… so he just waited.

"Good morning Hari-kun," he felt his mind relax as his uncle Takerou's voice called out, "the memories again?"

"Yeah," he admitted, he knew that some people might consider it embarrassing but his family was always supportive of him and never made fun of the fact he would sometimes wake up and be unable to get back to sleep.

The older man simply started to prepare his own breakfast of some toast and eggs with a cup of coffee, to prepare him to take on the day.

Originally he made it clear that he could wake him and his aunt up if he ever had the nightmares, however, in the end he found himself preferring to let them spend more time asleep, especially given everything they gave him.

"Are you going to be doing anything today?" it was the summer holidays and Hari found himself letting out a smile.

"Yeah, me, Atsuro and Yuzu were going to go to Shibuya with Naoya," he admitted with a smile.

Naoya was always taking care of him and helping him out even when he didn't ask him to, he was honestly the best 'brother' he could have asked for.

It didn't hurt that his two best friends liked him as well.

As for his friends… well, many people had the impression that there was something weird about the company he kept. He was the top of his class, the first person anyone picked when choosing teams for sports, he was tall compared to the other kids his age and also considered slightly mysterious.

The mysterious part was something he could probably stop, however sometimes he simply found himself hesitating over certain subjects, namely due to him knowing some things that other people generally didn't.

Like how he knew magic was real and practiced in hidden societies.

His friends however, were not the type that people like him usually spent lots of time around, what with Atsuro being the slacker that spent all his time playing video games and watching TV while Yuzu… well, she had some clear confidence issues and a hair-trigger temper concerning certain subjects.

In the end though, he simply found himself getting along with those two pretty easily, so he just ignored what everyone else thought and spent time with them.

Eventually though, his aunt Rose and Naoya finally woke up, he knew his aunt would have to go to work like his uncle, however Naoya was on holiday as well, so they would go to Shibuya once they were ready and had their meeting with Atsuro and Yuzu arranged.

"So Hari-kun, is there anything in particular you want today?" Naoya asked easily, earning a shake of his head.

"No, it's just fun to spend time with you, Atsuro and Yuzu," he responded easily, earning a small smile off his brother figure.

"Well, remember to tell me if you see anything you want," the boy that he was pretty sure was now eighteen years old stated easily.

"Yeah," he knew that Naoya wouldn't say no unless he absolutely couldn't do something but in the end, he didn't really feel the need to take advantage of that.

He soon found himself noting the sound of post dropping from the front door, noting that it sounded like something heavy had been delivered.

"I'll get it," he stated easily before heading to the front door and noting the pile of letters and a single parcel addressed to Naoya.

Though he would admit that the package was really strange given the number of zero's and one's that littered the front.

01001111 01110000 01100101 01101110 00100000 01001001 01101110

00100000 01010000 01110010 01101001 01110110 01100001 01110100 01100101

"Naoya, you've got a weird parcel," he stated as he returned to the table and gave the package to his cousin who looked at the object before getting up from his seat.

"Thank you Hari-kun, I'll take this to my room," the older boy stated before leaving the kitchen.

"Huh?" he shrugged off his cousin's strange behaviour, it wasn't the first time he had taken something to his room to open in private after all… what confused him was actually the letter that was addressed to him.

Or more specifically, his birth name.

That wasn't the only thing that stood out though, what really stood out was that it completely ignored the Japanese standards for addressing their letters.

He chose to open it… mainly because he had a sneaking suspicion of what it was about.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

He released an exasperated sigh upon reading the English letter. Since his aunt was English, he was raised to have a thorough grasp of the language, speaking and reading both it and Japanese fluently.

He had once asked how she came to live in Japan and she had told him that she was his mother's sister from a different mother and had travelled the world when she was younger and met his uncle when she visited the country… they exchanged contact information and the rest was history.

However the fact remained that both he and Naoya were fluent speakers of English and he currently had an English letter informing him he was accepted into Hogwarts.

He just wanted the letter to burst into flames, he tried to will it but clearly his accidental magic wasn't prepared to co-operate today and he found the letter being busy not burning.

"What's that you have?" his aunt asked with clear confusion as he put the letter down.

"Hogwarts," he spat out. He knew of the school of course, it was the very school that destroyed the relationship between his aunt Petunia and his mother, the school that had essentially indoctrinated his mother into dying for a society that kept looking down on others without the same ability they had.

And he wanted nothing to do with them.

"You have another letter," his uncle stated before passing him another letter, this one was pretty standard for a Japanese letter so he opened it…

Before willing it to burn and finding it not burning just like the Hogwarts letter.

"What is it?" uncle Takerou asked suspiciously.

"The Mahoutokoro School of Magic," he spat out that name just like he did the name of the British school… the Japanese magical society wasn't any better than the British after all.

He noted the way his aunt sank at that admission, clearly she knew this day was coming but was now having to steel herself for the inevitable representatives that would come to see him.

He honestly hoped she did like Ichigo from Bleach and kicked them in the face.

They would probably deserve it.

XXX XXX XXX

It was on Hari's eleventh birthday that he met his first wizard and he had to admit that his prediction of what they would be like was pretty much spot on.

Unfortunately they weren't kicked in the face.

"I'm sorry, did you just say you aren't letting him attend the school his parents wanted him to go to?" the strict looking woman named Minerva McGonagall (he would admit that he had trouble getting his head around that particular name) asked with a serious expression.

"That is correct," his aunt Rose stated firmly, "he is not going to be going to a school that doesn't function in proper society."

He could tell the… visitor, wasn't happy with that claim, however she appeared to simply bite down whatever issues she had and instead asked another question.

"And what does Harry have to say about that decision?" she turned to face him and he found himself narrowing his own eyes in response.

"If my magic had been more co-operative then that letter would've burned," he stated bluntly before noting his aunt face him with a look of chastisement on her face.

"Hari! You didn't really try to burn something in the house?!" he found himself looking away nervously at that question.

"Y-yeah…" he admitted to the crime, knowing that he was probably going to get a small punishment for risking setting the house on fire but he guessed he deserved it.

"Mr Potter!" the representative from Britain sounded outraged by his admittance.

"That isn't my name anymore," he stated firmly, causing the Scottish witch to blink in surprise, "my name is Minegishi Hari and I want nothing to do with you people."

His aunt never let him forget his old name but he had been officially adopted into the Minegishi family not even one month after he had been dropped off on their front door.

So he considered that his real name.

Of course the shock that appeared on the representative's face was clear to him.

"You can't just change your name like that!" she sounded incredibly offended, "the Potters are a long line of wizards and you are the last of them! You can't just ignore that history!"

"I told you, I want nothing to do with you people so your history means nothing to me," he stated bluntly.

"You heard him, he does not want to go to your school," it was clear that this British woman was still shocked but his aunt simply decided to give a simple command, "now, please leave."

"W-what?" once more the woman that he had heard normally looked incredibly stern seemed caught off guard.

"I said, please leave, Hari doesn't want to go to your school and you are not welcome here," he felt a small smile tug at his lips at his aunt's blunt statement.

"Isn't there any way I can change your mind?" the older woman asked, earning a shake of denial from his aunt, "I see… then I wish you well and pray you have a good life."

And with that, Minerva McGonagall left the building, clearly less than happy with the result.

"Now what was that about trying to burn the letters in the house?" and with that, Harry found himself releasing a sigh of defeat as he admitted to risking the house just to try and burn a couple of letters.

XXX XXX XXX

Hari dropped into his bed as the day ended… apparently the representative from the Mahoutokoro School of Magic also decided to arrive that very day.

The difference in his aunt's attitude between the two was rather staggering.

While she was outright hostile towards the Hogwarts staff, she was impersonal towards the teacher from the Japanese school… even going so far as to ask about private tutors that would allow him to have a wand and a magical education without being taken out of modern society.

It was pretty obvious to him that the representative didn't like that desire, however upon having the situation explained to them they softened slightly and accepted his aunts desire to both keep him away from their society but also knowledgeable of magic.

What with the way magical society had fractured her family before, killed her sister and was now likely trying to hunt him down to kill.

The representative had left to speak with the government office in charge of such things to see about arranging a tutor to teach him magic during the summer holidays.

Of course they hadn't returned yet but he didn't really care that much about how long it took.

So in the end, he simply let sleep take him for the night, knowing that he would have a trying time dealing with the magical society of Japan soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Hari woke up at the break of dawn, ready for the day that would soon come.

According to the private tutor his Aunt Rose had hired for him, he had already achieved a level where he could sit any of the exams on magic and pass… sure there were some that he would barely pass and others he would excel at but that didn't really matter to him.

All that mattered was that he knew how to make things easier for him and his family and knew enough about protecting himself that he wouldn't have to worry too much about any of these psycho's that might be after him.

Besides, all he really needed was to get in close to them, knowing that these people only cared for magic meant that he had started learning Kendo, Jiu Jitsu and some Karate since he was young.

Sure he wasn't even at a national level in any of those sports but that didn't matter when his enemies were pretty much useless in hand to hand combat and relied on a small stick to do everything for them.

Still, none of that really mattered in the end.

All that mattered was that it was the summer holidays and he was going to go and see Naoya with Yuzu and Atsuro.

He idly wondered if his cousin was planning anything for missing his seventeenth birthday half a month ago.

There had been times over the years when wizards had popped around to try and take him to Hogwarts, however they were all firmly denied by both his aunt and himself.

There had been a time when one of them, a greasy man with black hair and a permanent sneer plastered on his face, had tried to force him to go there but thankfully his tutor had been around at the time and managed to fend the man off before reporting the incident to the magical government.

He hadn't heard anything else after that so he was assuming the annoyances had been dealt with.

It didn't take long for him to lean out of his bed and grab his glasses before pulling on a pair of black trousers and a red shirt before putting on a black jacket and slinging the headphones he had gotten off Naoya around his neck and plugging them into his MP3 player.

After that though he found himself heading towards the kitchen and pulling out his wand, he honestly couldn't remember what it was made of but knew it wasn't the best wand but it worked and that was all that really mattered to him.

With a simple swish of his wand, breakfast started to dance around the kitchen and make itself for him, quickly seating itself before him as he took a seat at the table opposite his aunt and uncle.

"Good morning," his greeting was lazy but still tinged with warmth as he watched the morning meal take its place before him.

"Good morning Hari," the two adults replied with ease, it had taken them a little longer than he expected to get used to watching things dance around on their own but that was a time that had long passed.

He knew they both had work and would be leaving soon but that didn't really matter to him, he wasn't going to be staying long either so it wasn't like he was going to be alone all day.

And even if he was, he could simply catch up on all the series he was watching now.

Time flew by as his aunt and uncle left the house and he kept an eye on the clock as he returned to his room to play a catch up on a few episodes of the anime he was following, before he would prepare himself to leave and meet with Yuzu and Atsuro just as they had planned just the previous night.

Of course, it was only natural that he would lose track of time if he did too much, so he decided to simply leave early and waste some time in the city.

He didn't bother taking his jacket off upon seeing the sun shine down, instead he simply applied a cooling charm and went on his way… he didn't want to be caught out if it decided to rain all of a sudden.

XXX XXX XXX

Hari didn't bother when he noted the stares he was getting along the street, then again he knew that most people would consider his clothing choice strange for the weather before dismissing it as him just being a teenager.

It didn't take him long to find the meeting place and lean against a wall as he closed his eyes and simply listened to the tunes on his MP3 player.

"Hey Hari!" he perked up upon hearing one of his oldest friends call out over his headphones, "real nice of Naoya to make us meet him outside on a hot day like this isn't it?"

Hari found himself simply offering a small smile at the sarcastic remark, knowing that the other boy didn't really mean any of it.

"So how's your summer been? We usually meet at school so it feels like it's been forever," Hari couldn't agree more with the boy that was currently wearing a blue t-shirt and a white hat and was carrying a laptop, sure they had met several times over the holiday but given that they normally met six days a week, even a week of not seeing each other felt much longer than it actually was, "is everything good?"

"Yeah," his response was said calmly but Atsuro took it much more enthusiastically than a normal person would've.

"That's the Hari I know! Young guys like us need to be full of energy!" the other boy said with an energetic smile, "still, I couldn't think of anything to do so I spent all day on my laptop haha!"

"I just got caught up on a couple of series," he admitted with a shrug, he knew that Atsuro was the sort that avoided doing anything if he could but he was a prodigy when it came to dealing with computers… well, not as much of a prodigy as Naoya but his cousin was scarily good at everything, including any magic he read up on.

Sure he couldn't perform any of the spells but he was so well versed on the theory that he would be capable of passing all the written exams without exception.

"Really? Man we really need to get better hobbies," he couldn't stop himself from laughing at that claim… mainly because he knew the other teen was joking, there was no way he'd cut back on his computer time unless he had no other choice.

"There you guys are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Hari simply looked over towards the voice and waved at the incoming girl.

If anyone was to ask him what his relationship with Yuzu was, he would respond with 'childhood friend' as that was the most accurate description of their relationship… however if anyone was to ask him if he thought she was cute, he wouldn't bother hesitating in answering yes.

Especially seeing her dressed like she currently was, with a blue miniskirt, a backless pink shirt that showed off her blue and white striped bra while her auburn hair was kept in check by a pink bandana with a floral pattern… it also didn't hurt that he found her red eyes rather alluring, though Atsuro and some other people were more focused on her chest area, given how she was easily the most well developed girl in their year.

"Hey, here comes Sodeko!" Hari found himself releasing a sigh of exasperation as he knew just how this meeting would turn out now.

"Don't call me Sodeko!" yeah, Yuzu never liked being called that, especially when Atsuro had used it so much that even some teachers thought her name actually was Sodeko, "my name is Yuzu! Will you stop calling me that stupid nickname?! Even boys at school call me that and it's all your fault!"

"Hehe, it's not that bad is it?" Atsuro definitely didn't sound sorry about it, "it's a friendly nickname. And it's not just the class, some of the teacher actually think your name is Sodeko."

"That's because people like you keep calling me that!" she did not sound happy but then again, this was probably the fiftieth time this year he'd heard this conversation.

"Haha, it's working," the other boy definitely sounded amused by the situation but Hari simply decided to cut in there.

"Hey Yuzu, do you know where Naoya is?" the question made her perk up a little.

"Oh, that's right," she seemed to forget all about the previous argument but then again, that was basically a standard procedure by now, "I ran into Naoya a moment ago and he asked me to give these to you guys, he said that something's come up and he won't be able to make it."

"Aww, what's up with that? Naoya stood us up! Wait, what did he want you to give us?" the boy in blue said but Harry was more concerned about the simple fact that something didn't feel right.

Naoya _never_ stood him up.

Sure there were times when his cousin would act distant and sometimes deny spending time together, but he never made plans to spend a day together and then go back on them.

"Here, take them, they were a pain to carry around in my bag too," the auburn haired girl said as she opened her bag and pulled out three portable game consoles.

"Naoya gave you these?" he didn't understand why his cousin would pass on a few consoles to them.

"Yep, aren't these those Communication Player things?" she asked and he simply nodded, "I've seen commercials for them before, they're like 'play with people around the world'."

He simply released a sigh, it wasn't exactly anything special anymore to communicate or play with people around the world.

"Oh, you know about them Sodeko? That's exactly what these are," Atsuro was far more impressed with Yuzu's knowledge but then again, they both knew that Yuzu was nowhere near their level of literacy in technology, "the name 'Communication Player' is a real mouthful, so most people just call them COMPs, they have email and web browsers so they're more like cellphones than game systems."

"Huh… is that so?" honestly Yuzu didn't sound all that impressed, "Naoya said 'You'll all need these, don't let go of them'."

That settled it, Naoya wouldn't say that they 'needed' them unless it was something serious, the real question though was 'what was going on?'

His mind froze as he noted a possibility.

Naoya had given them something for keeping in touch and had made sure they were out of their homes by the evening… was it possible those… what were they called? Four to send? No, that wasn't right… ah that was it, Death Eaters, had actually managed to find him?

"Eh? 'You'll all need…?' well there are three of them," Atsuro sounded confused about the situation as well, "still, why would we need these? I mean I've got a COMP back at my own… huh?"

Harry found himself growing more concerned when the blue dressed teen opened one of them and started to stare in wonder.

"What the? I've never seen this menu, did he homebrew this?" that made him pause. He knew just how ludicrously talented Naoya was, honestly he didn't know if there was anything his cousin _couldn't_ do… so the first thing to pop into his head was pretty simple… had Naoya figured out how to science magic?

"What? You mean he made this himself? Is that even possible?" Hari decided to answer it for her.

"I don't know if there is anything Naoya _can't_ do," he knew that normally that would be taken as overestimating your family but he really couldn't think of anything Naoya couldn't do except use magic himself.

"Yeah, Naoya's famous amongst programmers, he's a genius," the most computer literate among the group stated enthusiastically, "something like this would be no problem for him."

"Uh… okay," apparently both of their claims worked to make her accept it rather quickly.

"Hmm… I can't open this folder, looks like it's protected," Atsuro muttered as he continued to analyse the system.

"Protected?" Yuzu sounded confused but carried on anyway, "you mean it's set so other people can't mess with it? We can't look inside then."

"Please, Naoya taught Atsuro everything he knows, there's no way he can't crack it," Hari stated with a grin at the other boy.

"Heh heh, that's right, good thing I brought my laptop along," the boy with a white hat claimed, then again, they both knew that this was probably just some test from Naoya.

And Hari came to another conclusion… whatever was in that locked folder was important.

It didn't take long for Atsuro to connect the COMPs to his laptop and start readying himself to hack it.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" the only girl in the group asked before looking towards Atsuro.

"Don't worry, Naoya taught Atsuro how to hack, he wouldn't encrypt a folder without expecting him to try and crack it," it was a simple explanation and she seemed to accept it.

"All right, I guess I'll just have to trust you," she accepted before relaxing slightly.

"Heh heh, yeah it's fine, I'll get this open in no time at all," the hacker of the group stated happily, "now let's have a look here… what's his encryption scheme this time? Heh heh, isn't this intense?!"

"No, only someone like you would find this exciting Atsuro," Hari found himself agreeing with Yuzu's claim, then again, he wasn't the one trying to hack into the system so he didn't know enough to say anything about how serious it was.

"Hrrmmm… Ah, there we go!" and with that a beep came from the three devices, "well, you can at least check your mail now, here, these are yours."

And with that the boy with the white cap gave two of the three COMPs to them and the first thing he noticed was the email that was already up on the screen, from someone called 'The Observer' with the topic 'Laplace Mail'.

 _Good morning/ Here is today's NEWS._

 _1\. At around 16:00, a man will_ _be killed_ _in a Shibuya-ku Aoyama apartment. The wounds on the corpse are consistent with an attack by a large carnivorous beast._

 _2\. A large_ _explosion_ _will occur in Minato-ku Aoyama at 19:00. The cause is unknown._

 _3\. At 21:00, a_ _blackout_ _will affect the entire Tokyo metropolitan area._

 _Have a nice day._

The first thing that Harry noted was that the email highlighted certain words and then the next thing he noted was the tense.

It was mentioning things that apparently _would_ happen and the times at which they were expected.

Silently he wondered just what Naoya was playing at.

"At around 16:00, in Shibuya-ku Aoyama, a man… will be killed?!" Yuzu definitely didn't sound happy with the email, "he'll be attacked by some carnivorous beast... what kind of news is this? That's so creepy."

"The part I'm worried about is the tense," Hari admitted.

"Yeah, you've got a point, it says it's today's news but none of it has happened yet," Atsuro said in agreement, "why would Naoya put a lock on this…? Ooh! Maybe it's code for something! Aoyama… Aoyama… Naoya's place is near there but is that important?"

"That's enough! This is way too creepy!" Yuzu demanded, "I bet Naoya did this because he knew you would tinker with the COMPs… it's probably just some trick."

"I don't know, Naoya is amazingly smart, so I think he must have meant for this to happen," Atsuro stated with a thoughtful expression, "hmm… I can't figure it out from just this. I'll try the rest of these files too."

"I'm worried, it isn't like Naoya to put something in to scare anyone…" Hari found himself admitting with a frown.

"Yeah, anyway, I'm going to find somewhere to think, this heat is killing me… seriously, how do you always walk around in that jacket?" Hari found himself smirking at Atsuro's question, especially given just how often he was asked it.

"It's a cool jacket," he smirked at Atsuro's sigh of exasperation.

"Come on Hari, that joke got old after the first ten times," Yuzu did not sound impressed by it either but in the end, he was actually being serious, with the cooling charm he put on it, it really _was_ a cool coat.

"Anyway, why don't you two go and kill some time, you can take the COMPs with you, some of their functions work so you might as well try them out, see ya later okay?," and with that Atsuro started to look around for somewhere to work.

"I bet it's all just a prank, Atsuro always acts like such a kid with stuff like this," Yuzu said with clear annoyance in her tone.

Honestly, Hari just hoped she was right.

"Um… what should we do?" he noted the nervousness in her voice as she asked that, "why don't we wander around until Atsuro's done?"

"All right, let's go and kill some time," and with a smile they proceeded to walk the streets.

XXX XXX XXX

The crowd was bustling just as he expected from Shinjuku, especially Kannagi-cho as the two walked along the street.

"Now… what should we do? Wanna go watch a movie or do some Karaoke?" Yuzu asked as they made their way along the street and towards nowhere in particular, "hmm… Atsuro might call us so we should go somewhere with cellphone reception."

Hari nodded at that claim before his eyes were drawn toward a group of people wearing orange robes with hoods that shadowed their faces… however it was the unnatural feeling he got off the shadowy hoods that made him really pay attention.

He could feel that they were unnatural from the pieces of dark magic Naoya had somehow managed to get his hands on, however at the same time he couldn't feel any actual magic involved in the shadows.

His heart quickly started to beat faster than normal at that sensation.

However there was one that wasn't shadowed and he was standing on a podium and making a speech to the general populace.

"And lo, the smiting from God against the tower of Babel returns!" the man didn't wear a hood, which allowed Hari to note his sharp features and greyish blue hair.

"Oh… man… what's with that bunch of weirdos?" Yuzu asked from beside him and Hari found himself wondering the same thing.

"Now, along with our Shomonkai, let us bring the world together," the man stated grandiosely, "with the power of the internet, the world will be as one once more!"

"The 'power of the internet' huh? Gimme a break… are you interested in this Hari?" she asked him with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"I'm more worried about what sort of nutjobs they managed to indoctrinate," he stated bluntly, earning a small laugh at his claim.

"Yeah, just how nuts do you have to be to wear clothes like that?" she responded easily, "but… it is nice how the internet lets you connect with the world, but all this stuff about gods and bringing the world together… I don't know."

"True, but let's just get out of here before these nutjobs try and brainwash us," he found himself saying before taking her hand and leading her away.

"Y-yeah," she said as they started to leave, only hearing a little more of the speech being given.

"For these next three days, believers in the power of the internet will gather in Tokyo, all members are welcome to take part," the man continued, "believe in His Majesty and prepare for the ordeal. That is when we shall…"

And with that, the duo finally left the area.

XXX XXX XXX

"The stores around here are really fashionable," Yuzu was practically gushing as they walked around Omotesando, "they're all, like, so mature, y'know?"

He wasn't really surprised by her current behaviour, he could tell that the fashion in the shop windows was top of the range, though it certainly wasn't to his taste, he much preferred the casual look.

"I used to go to Harajuku all the time but I always wanted to fit in at Omotesando," she admitted to him before calming down a little, "hey, do you think I stick out like a sore thumb here?"

"Nah, you fit right in," it wasn't quite true, she was dressed in a casual manner that suited her while most of the fashion there struck him as rather pretentious.

"No way, really?! Aww, thanks!" she definitely seemed happy at that response and he just gave her a relaxed smile, "still, don't you think that Harajuku and Omotesando have different images? Omotesando feels more like Aoyama's style than Harajuku's… speaking of Aoyama…"

"It's half four," he stated knowing what she was going to ask, "if that email was right then we should be hearing about it soon."

He could see her shiver at the reminder of the Laplace Mail as it called itself.

"Yeah, let's just hope nothing happens," she stated before the sound of sirens reached their ears as several police cars came racing down the street and towards Aoyama.

"Those police cars…" Yuzu started before Harry grabbed her hand yet again.

"Come on, we need to know if it actually happened," he stated seriously as they made their way after the cars.

"B-but there is no way its true right?" she asked as they continued to move.

"Except Naoya's apartment is there," he stated bluntly, causing a look of realisation to dawn on her face, "he could know something about what happened."

"O-oh, yeah, then let's hurry," and with that she started moving quicker.

He just hoped they could meet Naoya there… there was no way the man wouldn't know what was going on.

And so they continued to rush towards his cousin's apartment, hoping they would catch Hari's brother figure.

XXX XXX XXX

Hari wasn't surprised when he saw the police entering the apartment complex Naoya lived in, he had had a hunch they would be before arriving after all.

Naturally there was a police cordon preventing the crowd that had gathered from getting too close to what was obviously an investigation.

On the other hand, he wasn't even remotely surprised by the person that walked over to them almost immediately after they arrived.

"Naoya?!" Yuzu sounded surprised to see his cousin, though he himself wasn't.

"I'm surprised to see you Hari, what are you doing here?" he asked and Hari found himself narrowing his eyes at the man.

"And I'm surprised you think I'll believe you're surprised to see me," he stated in response, earning a look of surprise off Yuzu in the process, "you knew we'd be here, you're always predicting everyone's moves after all."

"Wait, Hari what are you talking about?" Yuzu sounded shocked by his statement but he knew his cousin, the man may not have studied divination but he'd seen him interact with everyone enough to tell the man was always calculating what they were going to say ten steps before they did.

"I find it hard to believe he didn't expect us to show up here after he sent that mail to us," the look of realisation that crossed his childhood friends face made it clear she was now realising just how obvious their presence was.

"Yeah, what was that creepy email about anyway?!" now that she was being reminded of the mail, she seemed far angrier at Naoya than before, then again, he couldn't blame her, especially given how it seemed like it might have come true.

"Sorry about that," Naoya answered apologetically, "I didn't mean to scare you."

Hari just knew that the man was being honest this time, he really didn't mean to scare them but then, what was the purpose of that email?

"Though I think you should know that the person who was eaten was a student, like yourselves, he lived next door to me," the older man informed them easily and Hari found himself thinking back on all those times he had seen his cousin with books on dark magic, clearly the oldest of the group was far more attuned to things like this than they were.

"He was eaten? No way!" the auburn haired girl repeated in shock at the claim and Hari found himself thinking on the situation, "is what that email said really true?! But, we got the email before the incident happened… what does this mean Hari?!"

"It means Naoya knew it was going to happen but didn't do anything to stop it," he spelled out with a hint of anger in his tone.

"My neighbour may have been a student, but outside of school he was a Hikikomori, he wouldn't have listened to me anyway," the oldest among them informed them easily, "and it's not like the police would come over a mere suspicion about something like that either."

Hari found himself frowning as his instincts told him that the older man wasn't telling them everything, even if they were also telling him that the man wasn't outright lying.

"Still, I understand why you two came here but our meeting here is an accident," the older man continued, "we shouldn't be talking like this… hurry and find Atsuro immediately, it's going to begin soon."

"Begin? What are you talking about?" the girl in pink asked in confusion only for Naoya to turn away.

"There isn't much time left, listen carefully to me, both of you," the grey haired man stated seriously, "do not turn away from what is about to happen now, do not be afraid to stand up against it. That is when the door of truth will open… overcome your fate."

And with that, the oldest of the three started to walk away.

"Oh! Wait a second!" Yuzu called out before the man disappeared into the crowd, "… he's gone. Something didn't seem right with him huh? I wonder what's wrong."

Just after she said that, Hari found himself reaching for his cellphone upon it starting to ring and looking at the caller ID to see Atsuro's name on the screen before he answered the phone.

" _Yo, I figured out how to crack the encryption on those COMP's!"_ his friends voice called out jovially, _"I need yours so I can unlock them, meet me in front of the Electric Museum in Shibuya!"_

And with that, the excitable hacker hung up.

"Um… why don't we meet up with Atsuro?" Yuzu certainly didn't sound happy, "I'm all confused from everything that's happened so suddenly… maybe Atsuro's figured something out on his end!"

"All right, let's go," and with that he put his arm around her and gave what he hoped was a comforting squeeze before they headed back towards Shibuya to meet up with the last member of their merry little gang.

XXX XXX XXX

"Yo, what took you guys so long? How far away did you go when you were killing time?" Atsuro asked upon seeing them arrive, though Hari was rather glad that they had separated otherwise the other boy would probably come to a wrong conclusion about why they were walking the way they had started.

"We went to Naoya's place," he admitted as easily as he could.

"Huh?! You guys went to see Naoya?" the boy in blue sounded surprised by that claim.

"Oh yeah… well…" Yuzu clearly didn't know how to break it to the other boy so Hari decided to intervene.

"Naoya's neighbour was eaten by some sort of beast, just like the email said" he stated as simply as he could, earning a look of shock off the hacker, "and on top of that, Naoya was acting suspiciously and talking cryptically."

"Wait, what? Are you saying that the email actually came true?" the hacker sounded rather surprised by that but he quickly recovered, "hmm… anyway, if you ran into Naoya then why didn't you call me? I had some stuff to ask him."

"Do you mean on top of the fact the email came true, Naoya was acting weirder than usual and that we didn't really have a chance to call you up before he left?" Hari found himself asking bluntly, earning a sheepish look off the other boy.

"Heh heh, sorry, guess bringing it up now isn't going to change anything anyway," Atsuro admitted before taking on a more serious expression, "so what's going on? Is what was written in that email actually coming true? C'mon, there's no way an email can predict the future. Are you sure you didn't just fall for one of Naoya's pranks?"

"Well, we'll find out in about one and a half hours," Hari stated as he looked back at the Laplace Mail they had received earlier that day.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that's when an explosion is supposed to happen in Aoyama isn't it?" Yuzu said before letting loose a small shiver.

"Yeah, if everything else on the mail comes true then we'll know for sure if it is just a prank or something serious," Hari stated calmly, "anyway, you said something about unlocking the COMP's?"

"Heh, yeah, once I crack these COMP's, we'll know just what it's all about," and with that the other boy let loose a pretty confident smile, "anyway, I was completely fooled, I think Naoya knew I'd try to get inside one myself. It seems these three COMP's are always monitoring each other so I can't crack one alone. You see, a COMP has this always on wireless feature that allows it to exchange data with…"

"Argh, my head… enough with the explanation, just hurry up and do it!" it appeared that Yuzu was nowhere near as interested in the workings of the systems as Atsuro was, though he couldn't really blame her, he himself was more interested in what they could do as opposed to how they did it.

"Man, you never change… anyway, I'm going to unlock the systems okay?" he seemed far more amused by her statement than offended, "turn your COMP's on you guys!"

And so Hari found himself turning on the system before something made itself known out of the corner of his eye.

Looking towards it he was certain he saw Naoya… however what really caught his attention was the fact that the street was empty of pretty much everyone but the three of them and this person he was certain was his cousin.

"Okay, done! I'm restarting the COMP's," Atsuro stated and before he knew it, the person that looked just like Naoya had vanished.

 _Decryption confirmed._

 _Booting program._

A massive number of lines of code started printing themselves on the screen before another message popped up.

… _Condition green._

 _DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM ready to boot._

 _Booting DEMON SUMMONING PROGRAM._

 _Peaceful days died._

 _Let's survive._

A bright light emitted from the COMP and Harry found himself taking several steps back instinctively before opening them again to see that both Yuzu and Atsuro had done the same… however what really caught his attention was the clearly non-human creatures standing between them all.

"Wh-whoa! Monsters came out of the COMP's?!" Atsuro shouted in shock, clearly unable to comprehend whatever was going on.

"Aaah! Wh-what is this?!" Yuzu certainly sounded scared by the current turn of events.

All Hari could really think at that moment though was simple…

This was officially the worst day of his life.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ahhh! I thought I was going to suffocate in there!" Yuzu didn't know what was going on as the fairy like monster that popped out of her COMP made that claim, "so this is the human world? Hmm… then these humans must be the ones who summoned me… we will fight then! If I win, I will have my freedom! Let's go!"

Then the monster rushed towards her with its hand clearly ready to lash out.

"Hehehe! Get ready! I'm not going to let you," the tiny creature didn't finish its statement as another voice cut through the noise.

"Expecto Patronum!" she found her attention drawn towards the one boy she trusted above all others, the one person that had always been there if she ever needed someone to help her forget the problems she had at home… however she didn't see him.

No, what she saw was a large, glowing white stag charging between her and the fairy like creature, clearly acting like a shield.

"AHHH!" all she could do was scream upon seeing the stag move before her as her mind tried to comprehend what this… creature… was.

All she knew though was that despite the shock she felt and the fear she had of this situation… this stag was probably the single most gentle presence she had ever witnessed.

"What is this?!" she had to try and keep her eyes open upon hearing the shocked cry of the tiny monster, "get out of my way!"

And then the white Stag was shattered like glass by the creature that had focused on her.

Her eyes widened as the beast of white was destroyed by the tiny monster before her.

The creature that felt like a guardian had been destroyed effortlessly by a being a tiny fraction of its size.

And now that tiny monster was focusing on her.

She was going to die.

She just knew she was going to die.

"Oh… that's a lot of magnetite," the voice of the monster muttered with a grin before turning towards the direction of its origin, "well well, I guess I can deal with you after getting that guy."

Her eyes widened at that statement from the small creature.

It was going after Hari?

"HARI!" she found herself unable to do anything as her fear overwhelmed her… this was far beyond anything she had ever expected to happen, far beyond the usual humdrum of existence she was used to.

"Dammit! Yuzu, Atsuro, get out of here!" those words that came from her closest friend caused her to suddenly go cold.

He wanted them to abandon him?

Hari wanted them to save themselves and leave him to die against these monsters?

"No…" she couldn't let that happen.

There was no way she was going to let him die alone and live with the fact that she did nothing to save him.

"No!" she found herself standing and before she knew it, she had struck at the little monster, knocking it back a little as her fist stung from the impact.

"What the?! That hurt!" the creature sounded both confused and angry but she didn't pay that any mind as she noted that Atsuro had also attacked one of the monsters.

"DAMMIT ATSURO! YUZU! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she found herself blinking in disbelief upon hearing Hari's voice call out angrily.

But the real question was…

"What do you mean get out of the way?!" Atsuro sounded both angry and confused, then again, she could understand, Hari was facing these monsters and he was telling them to get out of the way?

"MOVE IT NOW!" and with that she understood exactly why he made that demand.

After all, what other choice did she have when a great pillar of fire that seemed to pulse with anger, almost as if it wanted to lash out at them, appeared above the English boy and threatened to fall down on them.

"Oh crap…" and with that rather eloquent exclamation from Atsuro, she found herself running away from the demons as the pillar of flame came crashing down on the monsters.

"Dick move," was all the monster that attacked her could say before being consumed by the massive heat.

She found herself looking back and growing wide eyed at the fact the fire really did look alive and like it was fighting whatever it was that was currently keeping it in place before it eventually dissipated… revealing a rather singed creature that looked sort of like a white spotty cat with a conical hat.

But that didn't really matter to her.

No, what mattered was that Hari, the boy she had practically grown up with, had somehow managed to make some sort of evil looking fire appear out of thin air and destroy two demons.

It was honestly the single most shocking moment of her life so far… and that's including the fact that she had just seen monsters emerge from a portable games console!

"Tssk," the creature that survived the flames didn't sound at all happy as Hari stared in clear disbelief, "that… _really_ hurt… they never said anything about human's being able to hurt me!"

The creature definitely sounded angry but the bespectacled boy simply continued to stare in disbelief.

"H-how?" he obviously couldn't believe that the cat like monster had managed to survive but then again, she couldn't believe it had managed to either.

"I'm… going to kill you!" and with that the beast rushed towards the boy, clearly ready to tear him limb from limb… before Hari's fist met its face.

"C-crap… how was I… defeated by a… human?" and with that the creature burst into light that flowed into Atsuro's COMP before Hari collapsed onto his butt.

"H-Hari?!" she didn't know what was going on, that much was for certain. Nothing that had just happened made sense but that didn't matter when he was had just fallen like that.

"It's all right Yuzu," he responded easily, offering her a reassuring smile, "I'm just trying to get over the shock of what just happened."

"And just what exactly happened just now?" Atsuro asked clearly unhappy with the situation.

"It would appear that Naoya has been delving into demon summoning," came the blasé response of the boy with the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

"Demon summoning?" Yuzu found herself growing more and more concerned, especially by the fact that Harry was treating this in such a nonchalant manner, "Hari, what's going on? How can this stuff even be happening?"

"Magic," one word came from his mouth that made her shake even more.

"B-but magic isn't real," she tried to deny, earning a sigh of resignation from the messy haired boy.

"It is," his voice was soft and she found herself once again growing worried, "magic has a long history, with magical societies going back millennia… however, because they tend to look down on those without magic, they made laws prohibiting the knowledge of their existence being spread."

"And you're a member of one of these societies?" Atsuro asked rhetorically.

"Nah, my parents were and I was born with magic… but aunt Rose didn't want me getting involved with them any more than I had to," the boy in the jacket stated calmly, "doesn't mean I wasn't taught about them though."

Yuzu really didn't know what to think as she tried to process everything that was going on.

She had just gotten involved in a fight against demons, found out her oldest friend was a mage of some kind and that magical societies were literally stopping people from talking about them…

"Wait… if it's against the law to tell anyone about this then…" she didn't want to continue that train of thought but Harry told her that it wasn't wrong.

"I could be arrested and you could have your memories wiped of any knowledge I just shared with you," she felt her head go light at that claim.

Harry could be arrested?

They could have their memories erased?

She wouldn't believe it if she hadn't already seen more ludicrous things already.

"Okay, so you broke the law but you saved us, so shouldn't that count for anything?" Atsuro asked, clearly unhappy with the fact that there friend could be charged for saving their lives.

"Well… you see, I didn't just break one law just then," she began to feel her blood run cold at that claim… what else could he have done to break the law?

"That fire?" her eyes widened at Atsuro's question, now that she thought about it, that fire didn't look even remotely safe.

"Yeah… it's called Fiendfyre and is considered a dark art and a forbidden spell," she couldn't stop herself from staring.

Hari… the single kindest person she knew… had used a 'dark spell'… that thought was just alien to her.

"H-hold on… why do you even know something like that if it's forbidden?" she had to agree with Atsuro's question, it didn't sound like there was any really good reason to know a spell like that after all.

"Well… it's a long story but basically there are dark wizards out there that might try to kill me so my aunt wanted me to learn everything I could about what they could use against me," the boy that was born in another country admitted with a sheepish expression.

…Yuzu simply found herself unable to not say the first thing that came to her head concerning that however.

"Why would they want to kill you?" she really didn't understand why anyone would be aiming for Hari in particular… then again, given the sort of person he was, it was a surprise that there could be anyone that thought the boy was an enemy.

"Like I said, it's a long story and involves the very reason I was adopted by aunt Rose," his claim was simple and she found herself deciding that it was probably better to just leave it be for now.

"Yeah, we can talk about this stuff later, we've got much more urgent problems right now," the hacker of the group stated seriously, "like how we were just attacked by demons that came out of the COMP's."

She had to admit, Atsuro definitely had a point… however there was something she wanted to do right now.

"C-come on guys… let's stop talking about this and just… let's just go home," she said, hoping they would agree to her request.

"Yeah, let's head back," she released a breath of relief upon hearing Hari agree with her and stand up.

"But we need to talk about this later," Atsuro stated seriously, causing her to let out a grimace at the thought of not putting this event behind them, "even if we're not supposed to know about magic, it doesn't change the fact that we just got attacked by demons that came from our COMP's… what's to say they won't come out again?"

She found her heart missing a beat at that question.

"I… I don't want this thing!" she pulled out the COMP and threw it, hoping it would break and she would never have to deal with it again… however it suddenly stopped in mid-air as Hari pointed what was obviously a wand at it.

"Yuzu… don't," his demand caught her off guard, there was no way he could be asking her to keep that thing when there was no guarantee that it wouldn't kill her, "Naoya told us to make sure we keep them on us at all times… I know he was acting suspiciously but that doesn't change the fact that Naoya wouldn't try and kill us."

She couldn't understand what he was saying.

Naoya made the program that these COMP's used to summon demons and then told them to keep them?

What could the man be thinking other than how to kill them?

"How can you say that?" she simply couldn't understand how he could trust his cousin so much even after such a close call with monsters that were clearly trying to kill them.

"Because I know Naoya… and he would never put me at risk unless he thought I could pull through on my own strength," the conviction contained within the boy's voice was clear to anyone that was listening.

And despite herself, she found herself wondering if he really did have a point and that she should trust the silver haired man that had given her these dangerous contraptions.

Honestly, sometimes Hari was just too charming for his own good.

XXX XXX XXX

Hari couldn't stop his heart from racing as he thought about the fight he had just been in… honestly, even the appearance of the numbers that had appeared over everyones heads wasn't enough to distract him from what had just happened.

Seriously... he had never tried using as much Fiendfyre as he had just then before… sure he had used it a little on a few occasions thanks to Naoya and his obsession with him learning how to use dark arts in order to figure out their weaknesses for himself but he had only ever used it to light a campfire… never putting enough magic into it to give it any real level of power.

Honestly, that was the only reason he hadn't accidentally burned down a few national parks before now, because no matter how hard he focused, keeping the fire from spreading and lashing out at everything took all his willpower.

So knowing just how powerful the fire was, he had used it, hoping to cause as much harm to them as he could… the fact that he had actually managed to kill two at the same time had come as a massive shock to him, especially given how it had only taken a punch to defeat the last one… it was well recorded that you didn't fight demons because they were nearly completely immune to anything you tried against them.

But none of that changed the fact that the demon's particles seemed to flow back into Atsuro's COMP… which meant that the other two had probably returned to their initial COMP's themselves.

So it was entirely possible that they might pop back out of the device and try to kill them again.

But if that was the case, then why would Naoya give them the COMP's? Was it possible that there was something they didn't know about the little consoles?

"Atsuro… before we go, can you have a look at the COMP's and see if there are any other features we should know about?" he asked the hacker of the group as he levitated Yuzu's COMP towards her, "and Yuzu, please just trust me on this."

It was clear that the auburn haired girl wasn't happy with his request but the resigned sigh told him that she was going to fulfil it anyway.

"All right, but if anything happens then it's on you," she told him as she took the device out of the air.

"Thank you Yuzu," he said with a gentle smile as he considered what would happen if he was wrong.

Honestly, he knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if she was killed because of what he had asked her to do.

"All right then, I got it," the most computer savvy of the group called out with a triumphant grin, earning the attention of the other two, "wait… this is…"

"What is it?" Yuzu sounded concerned by the way Atsuro was talking but the boy just continued.

"Well, the first process is the demon summoning program, I don't understand how it works but it does," the boy in blue stated with a shake of his head, "then there is another function that turned on when it was booted up… it's called the Harmonizer."

"So what does this process do?" Hari asked, wondering just how important this information was going to be.

"I don't know how it does it… but it seems to adjust some wavelength so our attacks work on demons," the boy-who-lived found his eyes widening at that statement… if that was what this program did then that would explain why his attacks managed to defeat the demons that had attacked them, "and likewise, it attunes their attacks so we take less damage from them."

"But what is Naoya trying to do?" Yuzu asked clearly still upset at the fact that they hadn't really learned anything except that the consoles they had been given were a tool that equalized the power of humans and demons, "summoning demons, protecting us from them… what does he want us to do?"

He could understand her frustration and so he put what he hoped was a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Remember the email?" he asked her, causing her eyes to widen.

"That creepy prediction email?" she didn't sound particularly happy about him bringing that up.

"The problem is, that divination, the art of predicting the future _does_ exist… and knowing Naoya it's possible he figured out how to use that to create a program that could do it for him," he didn't want to scare her but it was better that she know the possibility that the email really did tell the future than live in denial, "but right now we have other issues to deal with."

And with that, Hari took Yuzu's COMP and started to fiddle with it… after all, if he remembered correctly then the little fairy like thing had come from her console and it seemed like the most talkative one.

"Hey, Hari, what are you doing?" the auburn haired girl asked before he managed to activate the demon summoning program again.

"Hello there!" he couldn't stop himself from blinking in confusion at the tiny redhead in a blue leotards reaction to being summoned, "… hey… there aren't any enemies around yet, what's the big idea?"

The pixie (according to the COMP at least) crossed its arms over its chest and gave him a stern glare on top of that.

"We need some answers," he stated firmly, wondering if they were going to have any serious issues soon… after all, the Pixie looked like it was fully healed from its stint in the COMP.

"Fire away boss," he blinked at that response… this was not what he was expecting when he summoned this creature… he had been expecting another fight.

"Why are you being so co-operative?" there was something that told him that it was being honest and not trying to trick him, though he also knew that it was his natural feeling, so he didn't chalk it up to Pixie magic.

"You won," that was the next simple response from the insect winged girl.

"We won?" Yuzu herself sounded unsure about where this was going and the little creature answered yet again.

"Yeah, you beat us so the contract was sealed," it was said in such a matter of fact tone that Hari found himself blinking in response before a chill began to run down his spine.

A contract?

That was not something that bode well for anyone involved even if they knew what they were getting into… while they didn't even know about the existence of this contract.

So why wasn't there a creeping sensation of doom consuming his mind as he thought about it?

"Wait, what contract?" Atsuro sounded confused about the situation and asked the billion yen question.

"Uh, you know, the one that says we have to obey you if you beat us?" it sounded like the little creature found the question rather stupid but then again, they were pretty out of their depths right now.

"No, we've never heard about this contract before," he decided to reveal to the fairy who simply looked at them like they were insane before releasing a sigh.

"You mean that you didn't even know what you were getting into when you turned on those COMP's?" she sounded incredibly exasperated by their situation but that didn't stop something from sticking out to Hari.

"How did you know they're called COMP's?" clearly both Yuzu and Atsuro realised how serious this was if the demons knew about COMP's.

"It summoned me," the deadpanned expression made it clear that this was something considered normal for a demon to know, "anything that can summon a demon without a ritual is a COMP, that's like a multiversal constant right there… admittedly I didn't realise it was installed with a spatial equalizer but the demon summoning part is what is important."

"A what?" Yuzu sounded confused by something the creature said and Hari had a particular guess as to what she was referring to.

"Spatial equalizer," the pixie seemed rather carefree right now, "you humans are all so small and squishy that you need something to make you bigger."

Okay, that did not make any sense.

"What do you mean small? You're the tiny one here," Atsuro decided to point out, earning a nod off Yuzu.

"Oh please, if you weren't faking it then I'd be _way_ bigger than you!" the little girl in a blue leotard stated with a pout.

"What?! Are you seriously trying to say that you're bigger than me when I could fit you in the palm of my hand?!" okay, the boy in blue was beginning to lose his cool with the little demon.

"Because I am!" the little red head was beginning to get angry and Hari found himself deciding to step in and interrupt the argument before it got any more out of hand.

"Pixie, can you please explain what you mean by that?" hopefully she would say something that made sense.

"Like I said, I'm bigger than humans," she claimed with a bit of pride, "it's like how a stick is bigger than a piece of paper."

Hari took a couple of seconds to figure out exactly what the little Fairy was saying before his eyes widened in understanding.

"Wait, do you mean that you exist in more spatial dimensions than us?" if that was the case then it explained why demons were considered essentially impossible to fight… they were a fundamentally higher existence that no level of training could help you reach.

"… I have no idea what you just said," the little red head stated bluntly and he found himself releasing a sigh of defeat.

Well, at least he had a pretty good of idea about what she meant.

"All right then, back to the topic at hand," he decided to try and get the conversation back on track now that he'd managed to pry some level of information from the tiny demon, "what was it about contracts you were talking about?"

"The contracts that we agree to in order to leave the COMP's first time around," the shrug she gave made it clear she wasn't too concerned about it all, "if we win, we earn our freedom, if we lose, we become servants to the owner of the COMP."

"Are there any more of you that are going to pop out and attack us?" he nodded at Atsuro's question, earning a giggle from the little fairy.

"Nah, first come first served and all that," she responded with a grin, "though if you've got the macca then you could possibly buy more demons if they'll listen."

"… we have no idea what macca is," Hari decided it was poignant to point that little piece of information out to the creature.

"Demon currency," she responded easily, "as they say, money makes the world go round, world go round, world go round, money makes the world go round, all, the, time."

Hari couldn't stop himself from staring in disbelief as Atsuro and Yuzu looked on in confusion.

"Did… did you just sing money makes the world go round, to the tune of London bridge is falling down?" he couldn't stop himself from asking in complete disbelief.

"What? This isn't my first gig in a human world," the pixie responded with a shrug.

"Wait, what was that about London Bridge?" Atsuro asked with clear confusion in his tone.

"It's an English nursery rhyme," his response was pretty standard but he was beginning to get a bit put off by this current situation.

This was most certainly not what he had been expecting when he had summoned the pixie.

"Still… is it really so easy to recruit demons?" he asked with a frown, "I mean, what's to stop them from attacking us?"

"Well… that's pretty simple, nothing is," the red head claimed with a shrug, "but most demons respect negotiations… though given the whole situation that might be an issue."

"Situation?" he found himself growing concerned upon hearing that one particular word.

"Let's just say, you don't want to get involved in what is about to go down kiddies," he noted the way Atsuro twitched upon her manner of addressing them, but at least the other boy kept his quiet this time.

"All right, in that case we'll have to get out of here soon," he decided before bringing up the COMP and dismissing the tiny winged girl.

"Now come on, it's time to go home before we get caught up in whatever she was talking about," and with that he grabbed Atsuro's shoulder and focused on his location before...

"Huh?" he couldn't stop himself from letting out a frown of confusion when he failed to disapparate them to their homes.

"Hey? What's going on? Why aren't you moving?" Yuzu asked him as he found his heart racing far faster than he previously thought.

"I was trying to apparate you back home…" he started before looking up and letting out his concerns, "but someone has put a _very_ subtle anti-apparition ward over the area."

"Apparate?" Atsuro asked with confusion, "is that another word for Teleportation?"

Oh yeah, Hari had forgotten that even other Japanese wizards didn't call it that, let alone civilians… honestly he only used those incantations because that was what his tutor taught him.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he gave them a brief smile as his mind wandered on the billion yen question… how long would it be before he was arrested for breaking the Statute of secrecy?

Thinking back on it, it was already taking far longer than he would've expected for the ministry to get there to arrest him.

"So you're saying that someone's stopping us from leaving?" Atsuro seemed to figure it out faster than Yuzu but Hari wasn't surprised.

"Yeah, that seems to be the case," he admitted easily.

"Well… this is just a guess… but what if there are more demons out there?" the scarred boy found himself looking at his friend alongside Yuzu, "well… what if that guy in Aoyama wasn't attacked by some random animal but a demon?"

Hari found himself frowning at that thought… if demons were appearing on a regular basis then that could explain his inability to travel via magical means.

"That would make sense… all the books Naoya had me read on the dark arts said that the only thing you can really do against a demon is run… even Fiendfyre isn't supposed to do much to them," he admitted, "if they knew demons were popping up all over the place then they would definitely try to restrict their movement so they wouldn't cause too much damage."

"So what? Let's just get the train home," Yuzu said, before turning her back.

"Yeah," Hari agreed without much difficulty, even if there was a barrier preventing magical transport, there would probably only be wizards around to try and contain the demons… even then there was only so much that could be done when dealing with the monsters that transcended what they knew of reality.

There was one more problem however.

He still didn't have a clue what the numbers that floated over their heads meant.

XXX XXX XXX

The trio walked towards the train station, ready to leave the area after their long and difficult day fighting demons and discovering that there were things going on that none of them were aware of.

Honestly, Hari knew he should have erased Yuzu and Atsuro's memories of magic but without their COMP's, there was no guarantee they would be safe against anything that might try to attack them… and the only way erasing their memories would help would be if they had the devices taken from them as well.

Of course it would get him in trouble with the government but he was prepared to do that if it meant keeping his two best friends safe from monsters.

He was however caught off guard by the COMP's mail function.

"Huh? Who could be sending us mail right now?" Yuzu asked as they opened up their email browsers and discovered the newest mail.

It was a message from Naoya.

 _It seems you've used the COMP. Well done. I figured that the general confusion would be dying down by now._

 _I gave you three the COMP's because you will need the powers of the demons. If you want to survive, you'll have to learn how to use them._

 _I don't have much time right now. Head to Aoyama Cemetery. You'll meet a person there who will influence your future actions._

He found himself frowning before looking at the second email he had received, something that he had already managed to determine thanks to the previous encounter with the Pixie.

 _Congratulations! You have earned the qualifications to become a demon tamer._

 _You can now summon a demon at any time as an ally and command it._

 _Please note that 'contracting' with the demons only occurs during the initial booting of this program. Defeating demons summoned via other COMPs does not apply either._

 _Also, a tutorial function has been added to assist you in battle. Please make use of it._

 _Have a safe and pleasant experience in your new life as a demon tamer._

Hari had to withhold a mirthless chuckle.

A 'safe and pleasant experience'? Just what was the person writing these emails thinking?

"What… who's writing these?" Yuzu asked in clear distress over the entire situation… but then again, she was just a normal girl, finding out about all of this would push any of them to their limits.

"Probably Noaya," Atsuro stated with a hint of mirth, "his insight is his greatest strength after all, he is a genius when it comes to predicting what people are going to do next… anyway, did you read the other email?"

"About becoming demon tamers right?" he wasn't surprised, all it did was further confirm what the pixie had told them before.

"Yeah, it seems like that Pixie wasn't lying to us after all," Hari for his part hadn't doubted the Pixie when she had been talking to him, not because he was gullible, he just had a knack for identifying liars.

"So we really are capable of controlling demons?" Yuzu didn't sound too relieved about that, "but what was that about us needing the powers of the demons?"

"I don't know," he couldn't stop himself from frowning as he considered the emails they had received, "but it sounds like we might find answers in the cemetery."

"But is going there really the right thing to do?" the auburn haired girl asked with clear distress, "I mean, shouldn't we just go home and try again tomorrow?"

"If we do that… then we'll probably miss the window for meeting this person," the boy in blue responded with a frown of his own, "if we want to follow up on leads here, then we have to do it now."

"Uh… why can't we just go home and forget all about this?" she definitely didn't sound happy with the way the conversation was going and Hari couldn't stop himself from agreeing with her.

Honestly that would be the easiest and potentially the safest route, it was even the route that the very demon they had interrogated had recommended they do… but it was also possible that not getting to the bottom of what was going on could come back to bite them late and Naoya seemed to have some idea of what was going on.

So it was a question between short term comfort and trusting the demon, versus long term safety and trusting his cousin.

In the end though, there was one person he trusted above everything else.

"Because there is no guarantee that'll keep us safe," he stated seriously, "the only way we'll be able to keep ourselves safe is if we figure out what is going on and what we can do to protect ourselves from it."

"Hari's right, if we run away now we could just be dooming ourselves later," he found himself giving the other boy a firm nod as he backed him up on the decision.

"Arrgghh," it was clear however, that Yuzu was most certainly not happy with it, "fine, we can go to Aoyama again, but if something happens, I'm blaming you guys."

"What? No, if something happens then blame Naoya, he's the one that's sending us there," the hacker said with a frown.

"Come on Atsuro, Yuzu… let's go before it's too late," and with that, Hari found himself walking towards a cemetery when the sun was going down, while the city was potentially filled with demons and his friends didn't know what to do… yep, this was definitely the worst day of his life.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, Harry… are you sure this is a good idea?" Yuzu asked with nervousness clear in her tone.

"No, but I trust that whatever Naoya is aiming at isn't our deaths," the bespectacled boy deadpanned, after all, his cousin had never done anything to harm him outside of those rare times when it was necessary to help him improve.

"You know, that doesn't really make me feel any better," the girl in pink claimed with a clear amount of distress… not that he blamed her, they weren't exactly in the best situation right now and he had just decided to go to a cemetery when it was already going dark, something that was made all the more stupid when he considered the fact that they had already had an encounter with demons.

And all the movies and anime said that cemeteries were likely to have zombies if the supernatural was showing up in the first place.

So he could definitely see why she wasn't happy with the decision to go to one purely because of what an email said.

Sometimes he could be just a bit too brash in his decision making… but at least it hadn't backfired on him yet so he was keeping himself quietly optimistic.

"Sorry Yuzu, but like I said, I don't think Naoya would send us somewhere if it would get us killed," he said again, honestly he was beginning to feel like a track stuck on repeat with how often he had given that reasoning.

The silence he got in return only reinforced the fact that she wasn't happy with the situation.

Eventually though, they finally reached the graveyard and started to look around for anyone else.

"Well, here we are… so who would be in a place like this?" Atsuro said almost as soon as they reached the gates.

"It'd better not be a ghost, I feel like there's something out there… all those graves," Yuzu responded.

"Hang on a second, Aoyama Cemetery, that rings a bell," the hacker of the group stated with narrowed eyes causing Hari to think for a few seconds.

"Oh crap, the explosion," that was all that came from his mouth before a loud noise rocked the area as something on the other side of the forest at the edge of the cemetery.

"W-what the? Was that an actual explosion?!" Yuzu sounded shocked by what had just happened but Hari found himself paying more attention to the fact that it had actually happened.

"Dammit, looks like the email was right," Atsuro was definitely not taking it particularly well either, "I think Naoya might have actually computerized fortune telling."

"Divination," the boy with the scar said absentmindedly as he saw a shadow appear at the edge of the trees, "and get ready because something's coming this way."

He felt his throat run dry upon seeing the large humanoid beast with grey fur and three massive yellow horns coming from its head… seriously, of all the things he could've met here this was not something he was looking forward to.

"Tch… that woman! I never knew humans could have such power," it muttered to itself though it was still easily overheard given how loud its voice was.

"Wendigo! Wait!" Hari found himself focusing on the person in orange robes that had just appeared from the side of the cemetery, clearly a member of that Shomonkai group that was going about the place earlier.

However his attention was also drawn by the number floating above his head, '0'.

"Gwahaha, fools! You're nothing like that woman! Do you really think you puny things can stop me?!" the beast sounded outraged now that someone had attempted to stop it.

Hari found his eyes widening as he watched the creature walk up to the man and rear its fist back in preparation for a strike with its massive claws.

"Incendio!" and with that he pointed his wand at the creatures face, causing it to stumble back as it roared in what he thought sounded more like anger than pain, "hey! Shomonkai guy, get out of there!"

"W-what?" the person sounded completely lost as he turned to look at them, "y-you kids! You need to get out of here!"

"GRAH!" the roar that erupted from the monsters throat forced the man to look back at the beast, "another human that can hurt me?! Dammit! I'll kill you all!"

Hari prepared himself for the battle that was obviously on its way and pulled out his COMP before blinking as a far more powerful explosion struck the beasts back.

"That is enough Wendigo," he found his attention drawn towards a young girl in Shomonkai robes, however unlike the others she wasn't wearing her hood over her head and instead had her purple hair held in place by a headdress made of white and purple feathers… honestly the first thing that popped into his head was that she looked like she was straight out of an anime, "I won't let you get away this time."

He was seriously beginning to wonder what was going on as he saw a number floating over her head as well, however in her case it was a '7'.

"Lady Amane!" the other Shomonkai member called out in clear relief.

"Go, I shall deal with Wendigo," and with that command from the young girl, the man in orange proceeded to hesitate.

"But," his voice was cut off before he could continue.

"Just get out of here! You'll only get in the way," Hari found himself shouting at the man who in turn looked at him.

"Stupid humans! Do you think you can escape me!" and with that the beast once again turned to strike the boy who was just now realising how stupid he had been.

"Impedimenta," and with a simple wave of his wand, the beast found itself tripping just enough that it failed to make its swing before it was once again struck by a fire far more potent than anything he could produce as the girl used wandless magic far beyond anything he had seen before, "whoa."

"Go, Wendigo cannot defeat me," the girl stated bluntly, causing the man to finally turn and run away from the beast, "you should leave too."

"Dammit! You need to get out of here yourself!" Atsuro shouted at the girl but Hari found himself simply looking at the two and noting something that was clearly slipping his friends mind.

"Atsuro, it was running away from her," it was one simple point that completely changed everything about the situation, "she doesn't need to run."

"Then let's get out of here!" and with that yell, Yuzu turned only to yell in fear.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on but Hari turned to see that several other demons had managed to sneak up behind them while they were focusing on Wendigo.

"Should've known it wouldn't be easy," he muttered to himself as he summoned the demon contained within his COMP, the dog like man with armour and a club that was apparently called Kobold according to the program.

"W-what the? How many demons are there?" Atsuro for his part simply sounded shocked at how easily they had been surrounded without realising it, "okay… I'm going to do this… I'm going to live through this."

Atsuro sounded more serious than Hari had ever heard him as he pulled out his COMP and summoned the demon contained within.

"You… why do you have those COMP's?" she sounded confused but quickly shook her head, "it doesn't matter, for now just leave Wendigo to me."

"Understood," and with that Hari focused on the COMP in his hand and the tutorial that was now displayed.

Seriously, why couldn't it have kept the tutorials for when they actually had time to pay attention?

"Well, looks like we'll have to use demon skills if we want to survive," the hacker said after going over the tutorial quickly.

"Uh… we have no choice but to fight? I'm glad we have demons on our side… I guess," Yuzu claimed with a downcast expression before summoning her pixie.

"Whoop! Free again!" the little girl in blue seemed incredibly cheerful, "ooo… and I've got opponents this time!"

"Yeah, come on Pixie, we need you now," Hari decided to say, earning a smug smirk off the little girl.

"Of course you do, I am the mighty Pixie, the greatest demon in existence!" the little lady said with an air of confidence that was very much misplaced if he had to say anything about it.

"Don't be so full of yourself," the strange cat like thing that came from Atsuro's COMP said mockingly, "everyone knows pixies are the weakest of the weak."

"Nuh-uh, my cousin is _the_ Hitoshura's strongest general," the tiny red head proclaimed with an air of haughtiness about her.

"Yeah… and Jehovah is my personal bitch," the cat like creature responded mockingly.

"Hey! I'm being serious here!" the winged girl said angrily before Hari found his patience pushed to its limit.

"No talk time! Fight now!" honestly, the fact that the other demons had been too preoccupied watching the duo's stupidity was the only reason they were even still alive right now.

And with that, the waiting demons charged at them.

"Hey Hari! Where's that spell you used last time?!" Atsuro called out in clear panic as they were quickly surrounded by many demons with no way to escape the pincer like attack.

"Incendio!" and with that call, Hari found himself once again burning the foes around him as they backed away in clear agony, "which one?"

"The one you used to beat our demons!" the boy in blue definitely didn't sound happy about having to state which one he was talking about.

"Too dangerous," that was the only statement he could make as he noted the way the girl in orange was dominating the behemoth, "I need complete concentration to use it otherwise it'll kill me and everyone around me without stopping."

"… Okay, but can I get some help here?" the hacker said before Hari aimed another fire spell at the demons on the other side of their group and then focusing on Yuzu and assisting her with a spell before returning to his own foes.

"GAHH! dammit, I've got your scents now humans, I'll get you later!" Hari found his attention being drawn towards Wendigo and noting how the creature was now running away from the girl yet again.

"I am sorry, but I must pursue Wendigo," the girl claimed as she ran after the beast.

Hari found himself silently agreeing, these demons weren't proving much of a threat, more a nuisance than anything else, especially given that he had Incendio at his disposal.

"Whoa!" he was brought out of his thoughts upon hearing Atsuro make a surprised yell and what sounded like electricity behind him.

Turning his head he was greeted by the sight of his childhood friend slinging about lightning like it was nothing despite not being a wizard.

Seriously, what was going on?

Eventually though, the onslaught of demons subsided and Hari found himself breathing a sigh of relief as he managed to catch his breath.

"Okay, that's the last of them," Atsuro stated before holding up his COMP, "and at least we now know a few more things about the COMP's."

"Huh? What's that?" Hari couldn't stop himself from asking, he'd been more focused on the enemies than the tutorials after all.

"Well, it seems that the COMP's can give us demon magic," well… that explained why Atsuro had been capable of throwing lightning around earlier, "and that demons summoned by other people aren't added to the COMP when they're defeated."

"Okay… but let's focus on the more pressing issues," Hari stated seriously, "the Shomonkai weren't scared of the demons, they had COMP's and they were fighting them themselves."

"Yeah, all of that taken together must mean they've known about the demons for some time now," the boy in the cap said seriously.

"Hehe… we've got a conspiracy on our hands here!" Hari found himself looking towards the pixie as it made that claim.

"… Do you even know what a conspiracy is?" Atsuro asked.

"Oh please… I've watched plenty of movies in my time so of course I know what a conspiracy is," he found himself having to process that information.

"You've… watched movies?" Hari found himself asking incredulously, earning a nod off the tiny demon.

"I told you, this isn't my first gig in a human world," she seemed pretty confident when she made that claim, "does that make sense now Mr Potter?"

Hari found himself freezing upon hearing it use _that_ name.

"Who?" Atsuro asked in clear confusion upon hearing his name.

"Wait, isn't Potter your birth name Hari?" Yuzu sounded very nervous now and he couldn't blame her, he was feeling outright terrified of this demon now that it revealed it knew more about him than he initially expected.

"H… how do you know that?" he asked with his nerves showing through despite how much he tried to calm them.

"That, is for me to know and you to sweat over until you either decide it doesn't matter, or manage to convince me that telling you is worth it," she sounded incredibly amused but Hari couldn't see the light side of it.

"Pixie, how do you know about me and can other demons find out as well?" he asked seriously, earning a mischievous grin off the creature in blue.

"Maybe, maybe not… in the end it all depends on luck," she stated quickly, "but the question is this… how will your luck hold out?"

He couldn't stop his mind from working on overdrive, how did this little demon know his birth name?

Honestly there weren't that many people that did, pretty much just his family and Yuzu knew… well, outside of the faculty of… Hogwarts.

Just as he was about to ask about that connection, he was cut off by what appeared to be a city-wide blackout.

"What the? The streetlights went out!" Atsuro called out in alarm.

"The mail," Harry simply stated bluntly, earning a couple of looks from the other two that basically said that they should've realized.

"Me bored!" he found himself frowning upon hearing the remark from the Kobold that was still summoned before he proceeded to dismiss the demon back into the COMP.

"Yeah, while it's fun watching you squirm about a pixie knowing your name, that only goes so far," the cat like creature called out just after the dog like warrior was no longer in sight.

"Fine, then get in the COMP already," the boy in blue said with annoyance as he also recalled his demon.

"… What is wrong with those two?" the pixie muttered, "you'd think they wanted to stay all cramped up in a freaking DS."

Hari found himself once again looking at the creature that was far too knowledgeable about human society for his liking and found himself asking a simple question.

"It sounds like you've got a lot of experience with human worlds, so why do the whole COMP deal thing?" he asked it with narrowed eyes.

"Sounded like fun at the time," the fairy said with a shrug, "you know that old slogan right? Travel the world, meet interesting people… and kill them."

He couldn't' t stop himself from sweatdropping at that quote.

"Are you telling me, that you agreed to being contracted to a COMP because you wanted to travel?" Atsuro asked incredulously and Hari found himself agreeing wholeheartedly with the other boy.

"Well, travel _and_ meet new and interesting people," she answered with a grin, "and Harry there is _definitely_ interesting as far as I'm concerned."

"Wait! Someone's coming!" the boy in the hat called out, causing everyone to look in the direction he was facing.

The sight that greeted them was the girl from earlier that had managed to fight off that Wendigo creature… and the man that had previously tried to stop it when she wasn't there… however the number over his head was no longer '0' but now '7', just like the one above the girl.

"So, you are all safe," she sounded very monotonous as she made that observation, "it is as I thought, you are demon tamers as well."

"They are demon tamers too?" the man sounded surprised but turned his attention towards them again, "ah, yes, thank you for your assistance earlier, if it wasn't for your help I would most certainly have died this night."

"Wait, how _did_ you survive in the first place?" Atsuro sounded suspicious as he looked at the man, "not long after you ran demons poured in from all over the place, how did you avoid them?"

"My apologies but I did not," the man in orange stated calmly, "while I may have been nowhere near powerful enough to stand against Wendigo, I too am a demon tamer and was strong enough to defeat the demons that tried to stop me."

"I guess that's understandable," Hari said before he looked at the duo again, "sorry about the delay, but my name is Minegishi Hari... it's nice to meet you."

He held out his hand for a shake when the man took it and proceeded to introduce himself.

"Ah, my name is Suō Tatsuya," and with that the man offered a firm handshake.

"Tatsuya? Do you have a big brother called Katsuya by any chance?" he found himself frowning at the question from Pixie who had just decided to land on his shoulder.

"No, I don't… why? Is it important?" the man sounded incredibly confused and Hari couldn't blame him.

"Nope, not really," the tiny demon stated with a grin.

"Okay, that's it, you're going back in the COMP," Yuzu said with a clear amount of annoyance in her tone.

"Wha? Wait!" the little demon cried out before being recalled by the auburn haired girl.

"Thank you Yuzu," he said with gratitude, now was not the time to have a fairy interrupting them every two seconds.

"That is strange," the girl with the feather headdress stated with a frown, "normally a COMP automatically dismisses a demon upon leaving battle."

Hari found himself also frowning, knowing that Naoya wouldn't have left that part out without a good reason… but what was the reason?

"Tell me, where did you acquire those COMPs?" the purple haired girl asked in her surprisingly relaxing monotone.

"Off my cousin," he stated bluntly, not knowing if he liked wherever the girl was going in her questioning.

"… Your cousin wouldn't happen to be Minegishi Naoya by any chance?" he felt his eyes widen at her question, which was clearly enough to let her know her guess was right, "I see… allow me to introduce myself, my name is Kuzuryu Amane, I am the maiden of the Shomonkai."

Hari definitely found himself caught off guard by how quickly she dismissed the differences between the COMPs.

"Lady Amane? Shouldn't we make sure their COMPs are functioning? If they are malfunctioning like that then," the male in Shomonkai robes asked before noting how she was shaking her head in the negative.

"Naoya's actions serve a higher purpose," her statement made Hari wonder if she trusted him as much as he did, clearly she knew that there was something different about his groups COMPs but wasn't acting on that knowledge.

With that said, she turned her attention back to him before offering a small bow.

"It is nice to meet you Minegishi Hari, I hope you will continue to follow the path you chose today," her words made him wonder what she meant, what path had he chosen to follow just then? "and it is also nice to meet you…"

"Oh, right, sorry about that, I'm Kihara Atsuro," the boy in blue introduced himself with a friendly wave.

"Oh and I'm Tanikawa Yuzu," the auburn haired girl said in a tone that was a bit more relaxed than normal, then again, Amane's voice reminded him of those meditation cassettes he had seen in the odd movie.

"Kihara and Tanikawa… I will make sure to remember your names," the girl stated with an air of resolution about her, "It would appear that The Wendigo has released its minions into this cemetery… I have set a simple barrier around this place tonight, it is best if you stayed here."

"Wait, did you just say you set a barrier?" Hari found himself concerned, he couldn't _feel_ a barrier around the group and he had worked on detecting things like that so he wasn't caught unaware in an anti-apparation ward… not that it had helped him recently but it was unnerving to not even notice a barrier even when he was looking for it.

"That is correct," Amane's response was full of conviction despite the fact it didn't leave its monotone, "it will protect you for the night."

"B-but this is a cemetery," Yuzu interrupted.

"It's better than dying," for the first time Amane's voice broke from its monotone and contained what was perhaps a hint of concern, "please just wait here until dawn and then head for the station… we must be going now."

"Goodbye Minegishi-san… and thank you for saving my life," the man in orange responded as he left with the young girl.

Time seemed to slow for him as he watched the two leave, honestly he was hoping that they could learn more about the situation than they had but in the end there wasn't much they could do as it stood.

"Well, that wasn't as informative as I hoped it would be," Atsuro stated dejectedly.

"A-are we really going to stay here?" Yuzu asked as she looked around nervously.

"It isn't like we have much choice," the boy-who-lived answered, "if there really are minions of Wendigo around then leaving could get us killed."

"Yeah, we'll have to take turns on lookout to make sure nothing sneaks up," the boy in the beanie said in a firm tone.

"Or we could just use our demons," Hari stated calmly as he pulled out his COMP.

"And how long will that last?" he stopped himself from summoning his demon at his old friends question, "remember that we're having to use the COMPs with limited battery life, if they run out in the middle of the night then we could be in big trouble… that is, unless you have some sort of spell that makes batteries last longer?"

"No, magic tends to fry electronics, not recharge them," he admitted easily.

"But you were using magic around the COMPs," Yuzu pointed out and he gave her a soft smile.

"Using magic around technology doesn't make it go wonky," he admitted, "but trying to use magic on technology tends to fry it, same if you are in an area with a lot of ambient magic."

"Oh… that has to suck," she responded with a downcast expression as she looked at her pocket, "I don't know what I would do if I fried my cellphone just by doing something simple… of course!"

With that exclamation, the auburn haired girl pulled out her cellphone and opened it up before frowning again.

"What? I don't have any reception?" she sounded confused by it and she wasn't the only one.

"Huh? How can you _not_ get cellphone reception in a place like this?" Atsuro asked before looking at the phone himself, "holy crap! You really _don't_ have reception!"

"See, I told you so," the girl in pink responded in an annoyed manner.

"Yeah yeah, I get it," the other boy admitted before turning to Hari and asking a very simple question, "do you think it has something to do with that barrier you mentioned earlier?"

"It's possible, if the barrier is large and powerful enough then it could interfere with signals coming from the other side," he admitted after a couple of seconds thought, honestly wizards didn't exactly care enough about muggles to focus on the effects magic had on modern technology. Even Japan, being the most progressive magical society when it came to accepting modern advances was still far behind the times when it came to technology compared to the muggle world.

"Dammit…" Atsuro didn't sound happy at that knowledge but he did perk up a little, "wait… the barrier that's stopping you from teleporting… do you think they'll try to keep us _in_ the area with physical barriers?"

Hari found himself swallowing nervously at that.

"It is possible… but it should also be unlikely," he admitted after a couple of seconds thought, "wizards tend to not bother with technology, you know, thinking that magic is the be all and end all of life."

"Huh? Why's that?" the only girl in the group asked with a frown.

"Because thousands of years ago they had magic to make their lives easier," he explained with a shrug, "because they were living much more comfortably back then they never bothered to keep up with advances in technology unless it peaked their interest… they all pretty much gave up after the invention of the internal combustion engine though."

"The internal combustion engine?! You mean they're like, a hundred years behind us!" the boy in blue sounded shocked by that titbit of information but Hari decided to tell him the truth of the matter.

"That's just Japan… Britain is closer to two to three hundred years behind us," his matter of fact tone clearly shocked the other boy who just stared as if he hadn't heard anything so ridiculous before.

"Dude… what do they do for fun around there?" he found himself smiling at his friends disbelief.

"Fly on brooms, hang out with friends and play board games," he said with a grin as he saw the boy with the cap grimace, "I much prefer being separate from that culture."

"Yeah, that sounds really boring," the other boy said with a grin of his own, "so who's going to take the first watch?"

"I think you should Atsuro," Hari said immediately before quickly explaining, "you're used to late nights and I think Yuzu could do with getting some rest soon… I'll take the middle shift and Yuzu can take the last, does that sound alright?"

"Yeah, I guess so, also means me and Sodeko can get some uninterrupted sleep," the hacker said with a smile, "I mean, you're more used to this sort of stuff so you'll probably be the best at coping with it right?"

"My thoughts exactly," Hari admitted with a smile.

Though he didn't plan on telling Atsuro the truth about the rotation.

Atsuro was clearly coping with the situation as a whole, though he was having some trouble adjusting so he should be fine on two thirds sleep when push comes to shove… but Yuzu was different. She wasn't coping as well as they were, having nothing to really fall back on… Atsuro had both Shonen and Seinen Anime to fall back on for places to look about understanding the current situation and Hari had his knowledge of the magical world _and_ the same sorts of anime that Atsuro watched to help him deal with everything.

Besides, he also had another trick up his sleeve that would help him cope with less sleep than the others… but he would still need _some_ sleep if he wanted to function properly the next day.

"Okay then, good night you two," and with that Atsuro took a seat on a bench while Hari and Yuzu moved over to a sturdy looking gravestone for shelter from the wind.

"Good night Atsuro, remember to wake me up when it's my turn," he said over the call of 'good night' from Yuzu.

"Yeah, don't worry," the other boy called out easily, "I need sleep too ya know."

He smiled at that, knowing that the other boy wouldn't be pushing himself too hard while he was still getting adjusted to everything.

"Uh… it's too warm tonight," Yuzu muttered as they prepared themselves for the night, "why do I have to sleep out here when we've got air conditioning at home?"

He found himself silently lamenting the fact that his friend was in such a situation because _he_ chose to follow Naoya's instructions and take a trip to the cemetery… still, at least he had something he could do.

"Here," he threw his coat over to the auburn haired girl who looked at him like he was insane.

"Hari… I'm too warm, I don't need to wrap up in even more clothes," she looked both apologetic and amused at the same time, clearly she didn't know what to think of his gesture.

"Just try it on," he gave her an amused grin, which resulted in her huffing before putting the black jacket on herself.

"What the?!" she practically yelped out in surprise as the coat covered her body.

"Sodeko! Is everything all right?!" Atsuro reacted before anything else could be said.

"Y-yeah… it's just… well… this really _is_ a cool coat," she claimed and he found himself chuckling a little at the groan of defeat that came from the boy in blue's mouth.

"Dammit, not you too Sodeko," the boy clearly didn't like the idea of her getting into the same routine as he engaged in whenever they asked about the coat.

"No, I mean, it's colder inside than outside," she explained causing the boy with the hat to blink.

"What? That doesn't even make sense Sodeko," it was clear that the hacker didn't believe her so Hari decided to explain it to them properly for the first time ever.

"I had the coat enchanted with permanent temperature charms," he admitted with a smile, "inside the coat is always a nice twenty degrees Celsius."

"Wait, that means you've been screwing with us this whole time by telling us the truth?!" the other boy asked in clear indignant righteousness.

"Yeah, pretty much," he admitted with a small grin, earning a look of disbelief off the other boy.

"And if you wouldn't have been arrested for telling us before?" that was an important question the other boy raised but the answer didn't even need thinking about.

"I'd have told both of you," he wasn't lying, that much was for certain… after all, there were so many times he had wanted to let them know the truth, that their understanding of the world wasn't even close to being complete for the local area alone, let alone at large.

But those bloody laws would've left him locked up and their memories wiped as well.

That was one of the reasons he didn't like the magical societies, the other of course were the stories his aunt had given him about the prejudice his mother had faced during her time at school and trying to get a job… honestly she had not said many good things when she wrote to his Aunt Rose, most of the good things she said were about Dumbledore and a few small group of friends.

He did occasionally wonder though… was that really a just description of the magical world or just the rambling frustrations of someone that needs to talk to anyone?

Honestly he didn't know, but the fact was that Dumbledore had apparently gotten his parents killed and the wizards were always hiding, never revealing themselves and never sharing their findings with anyone else.

That isolation they kept themselves to and the way they ignored advances in the non-magical world only made that society sound even worse to him.

"Well, good night Atsuro, Yuzu," he eventually said as he closed his eyes and readied himself to let sleep take him.

"Hey, Hari," he cracked open an eye upon hearing Yuzu speak quietly, "do you think we'll be all right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure of it," he gave her an easy smile, "do you want to sleep next to me tonight?"

His offer was pretty simple, meant as a friendly gesture but the way she looked around nervously told him that she was either afraid to accept the offer or she was embarrassed… if there was more light than he would be better capable of seeing if she was blushing or not but in the end, she simply moved over next to him.

In response, he placed his arm around her shoulders in a comforting gesture as they both started nodding off to sleep.

XXX XXX XXX

"Hey, wake up," he groaned quietly upon hearing a quiet voice and a pair of hands shake him.

"Atsuro?" he found himself asking in confusion before the events of the day came rushing back to him and he opened his eyes to see that yes, it wasn't a dream and yes, he was still in a graveyard, "ah, guess it's my turn to take watch right?"

"Yeah, now come on and wake up, I need some sleep myself you know," the other boy said with a grin.

"All right, I'm up," and with that, he gently placed the girl next to him down, careful not to wake her before rising from his position and stretching out the kinks that had wormed their way into his body.

He then noted the way his friend was looking between him and Yuzu before he let out a sigh and explained.

"She's had a hard day, at least you have your experience with Anime to help you cope, she has nothing," he explained easily, "I think she needed some comfort while she slept."

"… I suppose you've got a point," it seemed that Atsuro understood what he was saying but there was another point he clearly had to say, "check the mail on your COMP, I sent you a message earlier but I need to get some sleep now, see ya in the morning."

And with that the blue clad hacker proceeded to take a place further away from Yuzu than he had been, then again, if he had tried to sleep next to her then he would probably wake her up accidentally while taking that place, so that was understandable.

Plus he had a feeling that Yuzu would probably hit him if she woke up next to him… so it was probably for the best.

The real question that got to him though, was the number above his head… it had now gone down to '0'.

Well, he didn't know what it meant so he would just have to accept it for now.

And so without further ado, he pulled out his COMP and looked at the emails... dammit, he had forgotten to turn it off before he nodded of so the battery was running down a little.

Still, at least it hadn't run out before he realized it.

Looking in the incoming folder he found two mails, one from Atsuro and another from Naoya once again.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the mail from his cousin and opened it and started to read.

 _I'm sure you've noticed the Laplace Mail by now._

 _You've probably already deduced that I managed to digitize Divination but that is wrong._

 _No, the mail uses the concept of cause and effect to predict everything that will happen by analysing all events simultaneously in order to determine what the future holds._

 _In the end, that means that the events that are predicted may not come to pass._

 _So use the mails to guide your actions and do me a favour..._

 _Survive this ordeal._

Hari found himself growing cold at that last line.

It was now clear that he was trapped in something much bigger than he initially expected and he now had a sinking feeling in his gut that running away wouldn't work.

He shook his head as he prepared himself to read the mail from Atsuro.

 _Hey, it's Atsuro._

 _I was testing this thing out earlier and found that the mail function still works despite the black out._

 _But that wasn't what I want to talk about._

 _You said that magic interferes with electronics right? Well earlier the COMP used demon magic so what's the deal with that? Plus all the summoning has to take power from somewhere right?_

 _Another thing, I didn't want to say this in front of Yuzu, but I have a bad feeling about everything here. If we're going by anime standards then I think it's safe to say that we won't be able to leave that easily._

 _Honestly right now I'm reminded of Sekirei, you know with the whole teaming up with non-human partners to fight and all that._

 _Oh and one more thing, it seems that the COMPs will automatically register each other for communication if they're around each other long enough. I'm going to try and teach Yuzu but you know how she can be with technology._

 _You know, I just wish we didn't get involved in this stuff._

Hari found himself once again frowning.

Atsuro did have a point, the COMPs did seem like they could handle magic so maybe… no, he would have to wait until he got a spare to experiment on before testing to see if they are magic proof.

Well, he guessed it was time to turn the COMP off and get back to lookout duties… he had the rest of the night to think on things like this.


	5. Chapter 5

Hari released a sigh as he pulled out his phone and checked the time again.

He may not have had a signal but that didn't stop the phone from working for such simple tasks as checking the time.

It was a little after eight in the morning and he was beginning to consider waking up his friends and trying to leave the area like they should've done instead of coming to the graveyard.

"Uh…" he let out a small smile upon hearing Yuzu let out a moan as she started to rise from her position near a headstone.

"Good morning Yuzu," he said quietly so as to not disturb Atsuro.

"Uh… Hari?" she sounded groggy as she started to wake up slowly, probably not quite registering the events of the previous day in her sleep induced haze.

"Yeah, it's me Yuzu," he said in a soft tone as she rose from the ground still wearing his coat.

Confusion seemed to play on her features as she noted the coat she was wearing before realization finally struck and she looked around before an expression of despair made its way on to her face.

"Yesterday wasn't just a nightmare was it?" she asked him as she looked down in anguish.

"No… it was real," he admitted softly, hoping she wouldn't grow too distraught over the situation they found themselves in.

She looked down to the floor before frowning and then looking up at the sky as her eyes widened.

"What time is it?" she asked him with clear concern in her voice.

"Nearly half eight," his words didn't seem to put her at ease as her eyes widened and she said something he would rather she didn't focus on.

"Oh god! I missed my shift!" he released a sigh as she made that cry and looked at him, "how did I sleep through my shift? You were supposed to wake me up weren't you?"

She sounded confused as she made that claim and so Hari found himself answering bluntly.

"Because you needed the rest," his statement was simple and to the point… however it also made her eyes widen in understanding.

"Y-you didn't try to wake me," it wasn't a question on her part but he confirmed it anyway, "w-why?"

"Because you were struggling to cope with everything that had happened," he stated softly, "Atsuro has manga to fall back on when dealing with ridiculous situations and I have both that _and_ the knowledge that magic was real before everything to help me through it… you have neither of those things."

"B-but what about you?" she sounded upset now, "don't you need to sleep?"

"Yeah, otherwise I would've taken the first shift and gone the entire night myself," he admitted, "but if it come down to losing a few hours' sleep or you not getting rest after a hard day… well, I can make up a few hours when we get out of this."

That seemed to put her at ease as they noted Atsuro starting to wake up.

"Morning Atsuro," he called out as the boy made to crack his back after a night of awkward poses.

"Morning Hari, Sodeko," the blue clad boy said easily as he finally managed to get the kinks out of his body before turning on his COMP, "guess we'd better make sure these things are on now."

Hari found himself nodding with Yuzu as they turned on the portable devices before returning to their plans for the day.

"So… we can get out of here right?" she asked Hari nervously, causing him to nod his head before the group was interrupted by a beep from the COMPs that indicated the arrival of new mail.

"Huh? I wonder who sent us mail now?" Atsuro muttered as they all opened their COMPs and looked at the new messages.

The first message Hari noted was a new message from Naoya titled 'Death Clock' that immediately made his blood run cold upon reading it.

X

 _Hari, you're still alive, aren't you? I'll explain the Death Clock to you._

 _The Death Clock displays the number of days a person has left to live._

 _The details are:_

 _The Death Clock is only available to the party leader._

 _A single digit (0-9) is displayed._

 _If a person has 10 or more days left before death, nothing is displayed._

 _Finally, the Death Clock is simply a value calculated by the Laplace system. A person's actions can cause the value to change, so be careful._

X

That was not good news, not good at all.

If this so called Death Clock was to be believed, then he and his friends were going to die later that very day.

"A-a death clock?!" Atsuro didn't sound happy at that email either, "what's up with that?! So we can see how long people have left to live?"

"C-come on, there's no way that's true, right Hari?" Yuzu asked him and he found himself looking down at the ground.

"I've been seeing them ever since we got the COMPs," he admitted with a downcast expression… he wasn't surprised when Atsuro made the connection.

"No… no, no, no, no, no!" he sounded panicked and he honestly couldn't blame him.

"W-what is it Atsuro?" Yuzu clearly hadn't picked up on the implied point.

"We have less than ten days to live," he decided to explain, causing the girl to freeze in shock at that revelation, "more specifically… our clocks say zero."

"…"

The silence that declaration made was deafening before Yuzu started shake her head.

"T-that isn't funny Hari," she said with a definite level of denial in her tone, "what does it really say?"

"…" he didn't respond to her question and that in all told them all they needed to.

"D-dammit! Are you serious?!" Atsuro sounded frustrated now that he was being told he was going to die today, not that Hari could blame him.

At least there was one thing that made things better for them.

"At least we can change them," that seemed to get them to freeze.

"Well, the email did say that the value could change but are you sure that's accurate?" the boy in blue asked, clearly hoping it was true but not prepared to get his hopes up too early.

"And that guy from the Shomonkai proved it," he informed them, gaining their undivided attention, "when I first saw him the number said zero but by the time he left it had said nine."

"Of course, if you hadn't saved him then Wendigo would've killed him," Atsuro reasoned with a grin, "that means if we can figure out how we're supposed to die, then we should be able to avoid it."

"Yeah, there's still the Laplace mail to look at," Hari pointed out before opening it and reading the second mal they had gotten that day.

X

 _Good morning. Here is today's NEWS._

 _Power outages will continue in all parts of Tokyo within the Yamanote loop through the day. It is unknown when power will be restored._

 _Poisonous gas is suspected to have escaped from underground pockets. All train service is cancelled across all lines. All exits from within the Yamanote loop will be closed._

 _At 13:00 in Chiyoda-ku and Bunkyo-ku, a localized blizzard will occur. Three victims will be murdered by a snowman._

 _HaVE a nICE daY._

X

"Well, I guess that explains why we're supposed to die," he admitted as he finished reading the mail.

If the Yamanote loop was closed off then they wouldn't be capable of escaping the area and they would be forced to remain in the local area and at one o'clock in the afternoon, they would probably end up running into Wendigo and being killed by it.

"H-hey, stop it," Yuzu was sounding even more stressed than before and it was clear that she didn't like talking about their impending deaths, "l-let's just go home."

"Except if the mail is to be believed, then we're locked in the Yamanote loop," Hari stated calmly.

"B-but how can we be sure unless we go? The email might be wrong!" she was definitely trying to deny the possibility that they were stuck there.

"Let's hope so," he would admit that he prayed that Yuzu was right and the stations and exits weren't locked down and the email made a mistake… the problem was that knowing what he knew of Naoya, the mail would indeed be accurate and they were indeed locked in the Yamanote loop.

"Yeah, I'm with you," Atsuro wasn't going to argue either, "no sense in griping about it here, let's check the nearest station."

"God, please let Shibuya station be open," the auburn haired girl said as they started to make their way out of the cemetery.

The group had barely left the cemetery and reached Omotesando when Yuzu stalled.

"Hey, you guys! Look!" she pointed towards the road and all the vehicles that looked abandoned with many that looked like they had involved in serious accidents.

"What the hell? What happened here?" Atsuro asked as he looked at the large collection of scrap that now littered the road.

"What a mess, did all this happen just because we had a blackout for one night?" Yuzu sounded depressed now that she was thinking of things but Hari found himself frowning as he noted the real issue of the situation.

"It wasn't the blackout," he stated as calmly as he could manage.

"Huh? What do you mean?" it seemed she couldn't quite figure out the inconsistency herself.

"Headlights aren't hooked up to the power grid," Atsuro however was more than capable of figuring out the issue with that train of thought, "accidents this bad wouldn't have happened."

"Then… it really is because demons are in Tokyo?" she sounded depressed now and Hari found himself looking upwards as Atsuro made his claim.

"There's no proof, but that would be my guess," the hacker stated, "let's hurry, we're almost to Shibuya."

XXX XXX XXX

Hari found himself frowning as the streets to Miyamasuzuka were choked to the brim with crowds trying to reach Shibuya station.

However the thing that stood out the most to him were the Self-Defence Force vehicles and the barricade that cut the crowd off from the station.

"Poison gas has leaked! This area is dangerous! Please stay away from Shibuya station!" a young man in a military uniform said in a bored monotone as the crowd tried to get closer to the station, "all lines, including private rails, are affected, remain calm until the problem is solved!"

Hari felt himself deflating as he heard those statements, it appeared that the Laplace mail was once again correct in the news it was giving out.

"Police blockades are in effect throughout the Yamanote line, including overpasses," the soldier continued his monotone.

"All the rail lines? Then how are we supposed to get outside the Yamanote circle?!" a random member of the crowd asked with a clear panic in his tone, "hey, what's going on here?! I demand a full explanation for this!"

"The cause is currently under investigation, until then, please obey our instructions!" the soldier didn't sound in the least bit sympathetic towards the bystanders as he continued his spiel, "to ensure everyone's safety, we ask for your understanding and cooperation! We're also looking into the explosion that occurred in Aoyama Cemetery last night, if you have any information, please inform a disaster relief worker immediately!"

Hari found himself releasing a sigh as the crowd began to quiet down upon hearing the soldier's statements, regardless of how little they actually told them. It only got more clear that no one was going to argue when the crowd started to disperse, as if they were just giving up.

"Damn," Atsuro said the only word that could describe the situation they were currently in, "not only aren't the trains working, we can't even get near the station!"

"Was that stuff about the gas leak true? You think this is because of the demons too?" Yuzu's question was clear and Hari found himself answering the only way he really could.

"It's likely a lie," he admitted, "because of the Statute of Secrecy they'll likely be coming up with long lasting but mundane cover stories until the situation is resolved."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Atsuro agreed with him, clearly confusing Yuzu, "putting up all those barricades and blocking an entire area overnight isn't easily done."

"It is with magic," Hari pointed out, "but at the same time wizards won't help unless they have no other choice."

"Which means there's likely something we don't know about going on," the hacker pointed out, earning a nod from Hari as he made another claim.

"Definitely… after all, wizards tend to try and avoid confronting demons full stop," he admitted calmly, "and what is happening right now would result in them likely being forced to confront them."

"So there is definitely something going on that we don't know about," the boy with the hat admitted before releasing a sigh, "dammit, if only we knew what it was."

Hari found himself freezing as something popped into his head from the previous day and he made a decision.

"Yuzu, can you please summon Pixie," he requested, causing her to freeze and pull out her COMP hesitantly.

"Are you sure Hari?" she sounded uncertain and he gave her a firm nod as she activated the demon summoning program and called forth the small red head in blue.

"So… who am I going to have to fight now?" the fairy asked before looking around and seeing that they were alone, "no enemies? Woohoo! I'm just getting to stretch my wings!"

"Pixie," Hari called the name of the little creature and gaining its attention, "you said yesterday that you would advise we leave the area… why? What's happening here that makes it a bad place to be?"

"Let me guess…" the tiny girl with wings said as she leaned closer to him, "you're stuck here right?"

"Yes," he admitted, knowing that the creature wouldn't be fooled easily, "so what is going on that is making the government set up blockades?"

"The government set up blockades?" the tiny creature sounded surprised at that, "damn… I knew those bloody snobs set up a barrier but I didn't know they got their hands on the government as well."

"Bloody snobs?" he found himself asking with a mix of incredulousness as the way the tiny demon referred to whoever these people are and concern at the fact they apparently had a hold on the government and had managed to set up this barrier.

He would've suspected she was talking about wizards given how they tend to be pretty snobbish themselves, but they had always had their hands in the government, so the fairy shouldn't have been surprised by that point… so the question was, who was she talking about?

"The angels," his mind froze at that.

Angels.

The Angels were apparently behind the barrier and the blockade?

"Why?" he found himself asking, "why would angels try and lock us in?"

"So that demons don't spread beyond the battleground," his blood once again froze at that simple statement.

"W-wait!" Atsuro interrupted, "what do you mean battleground? What the hell is going on here?!"

"A tournament!" everyone froze at that claim.

"A tournament?" Atsuro asked with his face now in a deadpan, earning a nod of confirmation from the tiny fairy, "I was right… this _is_ just like Sekirei!"

"Only there are fewer competitors and less busty alien women who want to jump your bones," the tiny girl stated with a shrug.

"… why am I not surprised you know about Sekirei?" the hacker asked rhetorically as the Pixie once again displayed a knowledge of the world greater than she should have.

"Because you aren't a complete idiot and know how to learn?" the suggestion from the tiny demon made Hari release a sigh as he wondered if the creature was trying to get a rise out of his friend.

"I… don't know whether I should take that as an insult or a compliment," Atsuro stated with a frown.

"It's called stating the obvious," she grinned at him as she made that claim.

"Pixie," Hari decided to try and get the conversation back on track, "what is this tournament?"

"The war for the Throne Of Bel," she stated bluntly while grinning.

Clearly she knew she hadn't given them a good enough answer to tell them what was actually going on and was just waiting for them to ask for clarification.

"W-war?" Yuzu sounded scared now and he honestly couldn't blame her, they had just gone out to meet his cousin and suddenly found themselves thrust into some demonic war… that was not something a normal person would expect to happen.

"What's the Throne Of Bel?" Atsuro asked seriously, clearly he was capable of looking at the situation more objectively than Yuzu but then again, he had watched more than enough anime to see where things were going.

"A long time ago there was a demon named Bel," the tiny creature started easily, "it was _really_ powerful and it decided to try and kill Jehovah… it failed and was split into several other demons who have now come together to fight for the right to gain the full power of Bel and wage another war on God."

"W-what?" this time even Atsuro seemed uncertain of how to respond to the situation they were in.

"What are their chances of killing god if they win?" he asked the pixie who simply shrugged.

"Too small," the tiny girl stated unhappily making Hari frown.

"Do you have something against God?" he asked with furrowed eyes earning a snort off the fairy.

"I'm surprised you _don't_ ," her response made him jerk his head in surprise, "but I guess indoctrination has always been something he's good at."

"What do you mean by that?" now he was getting curious, he remembered Naoya saying things that were less than flattering about God but he was curious why this demon would expect him to have something against god himself.

"You mean outside of how big the religions that worship him are in pretty much every human world out there?" she asked in what was clearly a rhetorical manner.

"I meant, what do you mean about being surprised I don't have something against god," he clarified for the tiny creature who released a sigh of exasperation.

"Do you know how many humans he has killed in his so called 'ordeals'?" she asked him and he shook his head in the negative, "neither do I, just that it is an Aleph number."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Atsuro sounded like he wasn't prepared to accept that estimate, "you don't even know what extra dimensional means but you know about Aleph numbers?"

"I watched a youtube video about them," Hari found himself blinking at that explanation.

"Great, we have a demon that watches anime and youtube," Atsuro sounded like he was just giving up as he slumped in defeat.

"Yep," the Pixie itself just admitted it with a firm nod.

"So what's next, video games?" he noted that that question made the pixie slump in depression.

"You're a dick," she stated with a small glare.

"W-what?" Atsuro sounded caught off guard by that claim as the Pixie continued to glare at him."

"Do I look tall enough to hold a controller? Or use a keyboard and mouse?" she asked him with a note of displeasure at the situation.

"Uh… sorry?" it seemed that the hacker hadn't really thought of the physical difficulties of doing such a thing, "wait… why don't you just use magic?"

"Tried it, accidentally broke the controller when I got a little too excited," she admitted, causing the teen to blanch in response.

"I guess that explains why you don't play games," Atsuro admitted with a shrug.

Hari found himself wondering why she didn't play turn based games before his mind finally noticed something important about the current conversation.

"Wait… can we please go back to the part about God killing people?" he couldn't believe just how easy it had been for the tiny redhead to distract them from the important issues.

"Well he _has_ killed plenty of them," the fairy said once again with yet another shrug.

"Uh… sorry but what's an Aleph number?" Yuzu cut in as the group proceeded to start talking about ludicrous numbers once again.

"They're one of the number used to denote a certain type of infinity," Hari explained easily.

"I-I-Infinity?!" the auburn haired girl said with clear shock in her features.

"Yeah, infinity," the tiny pixie stated calmly.

"Though I'm betting it's a pretty small infinity," Hari found himself stating as he thought about it.

"All infinities are small compared to the bigger ones," the tiny fairy admitted bluntly, earning a sigh off the scarred boy as he found himself unable to deny that claim.

"… I'm confused," Yuzu stated after a few seconds and Hari found himself letting out another sigh.

"Don't worry about it Yuzu," he found himself simply saying the obvious thing in that situation, "what matters is that apparently, God kills a lot of people."

"Because he doesn't like it when they don't worship him and do whatever they want," the tiny fairy pointed out easily.

It was clear that Yuzu was not happy with this talk, then again, he didn't blame her, especially given the subject of the conversation… honestly the simple fact that the pixie was talking about god as if it was a fact would definitely get to her given that he knew she was a devout atheist.

"Okay, let's get back to the important part," Hari started, causing the pixie to look at him with a raised eyebrow, "apparently we're supposed to die today."

"That sucks," the tiny winged creature stated with a pout.

"But according to Naoya's email, it is possible for us to change our death clocks, so let's try and find a way to give ourselves more time," he suggested, earning nods off the other two.

"Y-yeah, let's find a way to escape then," Yuzu started to say before she was cut off by the pixie again.

"The angels will vaporize the entire area, killing millions of people," the tiny red head pointed out easily, "do you want that to happen?"

He could tell that the others with him were not happy with that possibility but Yuzu quickly shook her head and pulled out her COMP.

"B-but what if we just get rid of the COMPs? They can't keep us in if we get rid of them!" she tried pointing out but Hari found himself pointing out something to her himself.

"And how many of the people being trapped here don't have COMPs?" he seriously doubted that all the people that were stuck with them had COMPs, honestly he doubted even ten percent of them did but the government and angels didn't seem to care anyway.

"B-but… why?" she definitely seemed like she was about to fall into tears, "why does this have to happen?"

"Because the side of Law is a dick," that caused Hari himself to frown.

"What do you mean, 'the side of law'?" he didn't understand what the little creature was saying this time but it just shrugged its shoulders.

"Law and Chaos, totalitarianism and anarchy, slavery and freedom, those are the two sides led by Jehovah and Lucifer," it was a simple explanation and Hari found himself processing exactly what it meant.

"Going by that, it sounds like Lucifer is the good guy," he pointed out, earning a snort of amusement from the fairy.

"No," she pointed out, "both are flawed and neither is what is best for humans."

He found himself thinking once again as the tiny creature continued to float around.

From what he could tell so far, it sounded like they were stuck in this area and the only way out was to put the thousands, if not millions of people in the Yamanote line at risk of being wiped out by the very people keeping them inside.

In the end, all he could really do was release a sigh.

"All right then, I guess there isn't much we can do," he admitted in defeat.

"What? Are you seriously just giving up?" Atsuro sounded shocked but Hari simply shrugged.

"I'm not going to risk killing thousands of innocent people just so us three can survive," he admitted, "not when we have another option open to us."

"We have another option?" Yuzu sounded unsure as she repeated his words.

"Well, we have two options anyway," he admitted before stating the two choices, "either we use the Laplace Mail to avoid whatever it is that kills us or…"

"Or what?" Atsuro sounded uncertain now but Hari knew the hacker would kick himself for not getting it himself.

"We get strong enough to defeat whatever tries to kill us," his statement was blunt and he could see Yuzu's eyes widening in shock while Atsuro facepalmed.

"Dammit, I really should've gotten that one," Hari found himself smiling at the other boy's admittance.

"Yeah, so, I guess all we can really do is prepare for whatever comes next," Hari stated with resolution as he began to try and prepare for whatever came next.

"Y-yeah…" the auburn haired girl's voice cut through the air and he found himself looking at the ground once more, she was clearly losing hope and he found that there simply wasn't much he could do to change the situation.

"Okay then, let's go and see if we can find a way to get stronger fast enough to fight whatever we're up against," the dark haired boy stated before Atsuro spoke up once more.

"Actually, that shouldn't be too much of a problem," the hackers statement made him frown in confusion before the other boy continued, "from what I've been able to identify, the more demons a COMP is used against, the better it becomes at mimicking their power… so in order to get stronger, all we really need to do is fight more demons."

Hari found himself staring at the other boy blankly at that claim.

"That sounds far too similar to RPG levelling," he stated bluntly, earning a sigh off the other teen.

"I know… I'm pretty sure Naoya actually _designed_ it that way… what with the experience meter he included in the party screen," the boy in blue stated in the same tone he had used to describe the concept.

"Wow… that means you're in Sekirei, Final Fantasy Edition," the pixie stated with a grin, causing the group to look at her.

"I thought you said you don't play video games," Atsuro stated calmly, earning a nod off the tiny fairy.

"Yeah, doesn't mean I haven't seen other people play them," her answer was pretty clear, "the ATB gauge made playing it annoying though so I gave up after a while."

"You know what, screw it," the hacker said in defeat, "I'm just going to assume you know anything I talk about."

"That's probably a good idea," the shortest member of the group said with a grin on her face.

"Okay, come on, I hate to say this but we don't really have all day do we," the wizard of the group stated seriously, then again, he really didn't feel like dying today so he didn't want them losing any more time than necessary.

"All right, so we have to find some more demons and then," the boy with the white hat said before Yuzu cut in again.

"Stop it! Why do we have to find more demons?" she sounded really upset now but it was the Pixie that cut in first.

"Because you're screwed if you don't," the tiny redhead pointed out, "seriously, grow a backbone and accept that you're going to have to play by the rules or die."

Hari found himself unable to really say anything against the Pixie but he needed to try and calm down his childhood friend.

"Look at it Yuzu, we don't have much of a choice," he pointed out, "if it was just the government then it'd be completely different and we'd have a chance to escape without anyone noticing, but it isn't just the government and leaving could cause them to slaughter everyone."

"But how do we know that's true?!" she pointed out nearing hysterics and he found himself looking at the ground yet again.

"We don't… but are you really willing to risk it?" he pointed out and found her looking ashamed as she thought of what he had just said.

"W-why do we have to be stuck here?" she sounded like she was about to break down as she clearly found herself finally giving up on getting out of the area.

"I already told you, god is a dick," the tiny fairy stated easily, causing Hari to glare at her.

"Will you please stop that," he told off the little demon, honestly he was really growing angry with her constantly trivialising things.

"No, right now whining and getting all emo isn't going to help so I will do everything I can to get rid of that type of atmosphere!" the demon with insect like wings declared firmly.

"She's got a point," he found himself staring as the other male in the group made that admission, honestly he had been so focused on trying to get Yuzu to accept it all, that he had never thought of trying to make the mood lighter… in some ways he was left wondering if trying to make light of the situation was the right thing to do.

"B-but if we go and fight demons then how do you think that'll work out?" the tallest girl in the group asked, "I mean, what if we die _because_ we picked a fight with a demon?"

"… Thirteen Hundred," Hari found himself saying seriously, causing everyone to look at him, "at thirteen hundred hours, three victims will be killed by a snowman."

"It fits," Atsuro stated seriously.

"Yeah, and Wendigo did say that he had our scents… so we have until thirteen hundred hours to get strong enough to defeat that thing," he pointed out, causing the other humans to look serious.

"Wendigo… according to the COMPs he was about level twenty, so we've got a lot of work to do if we want to survive facing him," the most computer literate of the group pointed out.

"What level does it say we are right now?" he decided to ask, curious as to whether or not they stood a chance of getting strong enough to face Wendigo without Amane's help.

"It says we're about level five," that made him cringe, "however, we did start at level one so we've grown stronger since we first started, if we focus on fighting then we might get strong enough to face Wendigo by the time we have to."

"Okay… so the question is where to find demons to fight," Hari stated with a sigh, "I guess we need to look around for now."

"Or you could, you know, go to a park or something," the Pixie claimed, causing them to look at her questioningly, "well, parks are big places where people normally go, but isn't too cramped, so you'll probably find some demons there trying to pick off a few humans."

"… If that's the case then why don't they attack people on the street?" he asked with a frown.

"They probably will, that's just how they're probably thinking right now since most low level demons aren't that smart," the tiny girl stated with a shrug.

"You're low level," he pointed out, causing her to grin in response.

"Yes, but I've also spent plenty of time around humans so I've learned about common sense," she pointed out easily.

"You've learned about common sense?" he found himself asking with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep… common sense isn't so common," that particular statement from the fairy made him stare at the demon blankly.

"Fine then," eventually he just gave up trying to understand and decided that there was only one thing they could do, "let's go to the park."

"Yeah… let's get going," Atsuro stated with a shake of his head as the group started on their way to the park in search of demons to fight.


End file.
